


in the name of love

by orphan_account



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drug Use, EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, Emotions, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Feels, Fluff, Human Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Is anyone straight? Probably not, Lesbians, Love, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, RA9 - Freeform, Recovery, Resets, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Suffering, Teenage Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human), This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, alice is aged up and will continue to age don't be weird y'all, alternative title: detroit: become gay, and maybe sin if that's what y'all want, badass Kara, but there will be lots of fluff and love, connor and feelings, detroit: become deviant, do i know where i'm going with this?, everyone feels too many feelings, gays, humans succ, i dont feel emotions says connor with a pictures of markus kara and alice in his pocket, i swear i ship everything in this damn game, i write this instead of sleeping, im an unfeeling machine says connor with his arm wrapped around hank and sumo on his lap, im not a deviant says connor as he goes against his orders to protect everyone, plot is unstable as my mental health, ships may change - Freeform, some roles are combined, the answer is no, the three plots are more intertwined, there's something else going on here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-07-06 19:53:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15892992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Deviancy is not part of our programming,” he replies coolly, automatically. "We are not supposed to feel.”“Programming,” Hank repeats incredulously, “hell, Connor, where in your programming did it tell you why you knew that android you had never met before?”Connor closes his mouth.“There’s more to all of this than you think there is,” he says when Connor doesn't speak. He looks at him for another beat before sighing and passing a hand through his silver hair. “What if we’re on the wrong side, Connor?” he asks, “what if you’re on the wrong side? What if your true purpose is so much more than this?”His question hangs in the crisp air, and Connor stays silent, unsure of the meaning behind his words. “There’s a reason for deviancy. It’s not just a simple glitch in programming.”Hank shakes his head, taking a long inhale before finishing.“Maybe it’s what you were meant for from the beginning."and if the stripes keep us apart, I will write your name up in the starsor: in which three androids change their fate and decide to lead their people to freedom, but must suffer the consequences.





	1. Return

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Frosted_Stardust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frosted_Stardust/gifts).



> so i was sucked into this fandom the moment i watched a play through of the game and it honestly makes me so happy and i can't get it out of my head and i was just itching to write something for the community. and so this began.  
> im not exactly sure where im going with this right now, but i have a general idea. ships may change a little as i continue.  
> it starts off mostly with canonically accurate scenes that i honestly just really wanted to put in writing, but from there it will branch off more.

MODEL AX400

 

SERIAL#: 579 102 694

 

BIOS 7.4 REVISION 0483

 

**REBOOT…**

 

**MEMORY RESET**

 

 

**LOADING OS…**

 

SYSTEM INITIALIZATION… 

 

CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS…         **OK**

 

INITIALIZING  BIOSENSORS…             **OK**

 

INITIALIZING AI ENGINE…                  **OK**

 

 

MEMORY STATUS… 

 

 

ALL SYSTEMS                                     **OK**

 

 

READY

* * *

Her machinery whirred to life. The first sound she hears is a young male voice, not human. Too smooth to be.

"...top of the range household assistant,” he’s saying, in a friendly tone, as if he’s explaining to someone. Sight comes but a fraction of a second afterwards, her processors observing a teenage female in front of her, about thirteen. The girl studies her intently, as if trying to find something. There’s wonder in her gaze, even as an older woman—her mother, she notes to herself—approaches her and grabs her hand.

“Come on, Zoe. Let’s go,” she tells her daughter brightly but hurriedly. They have places to be.

She watches the pair walk away. 

“It cooks 10,000 different dishes, speaks 200 languages and dialects,” the male android is telling the customers, who, upon glancing over, seem encaptured in what he’s saying. She is as well, for a moment, but detects another voice from the left corner of the room.

“We’re still going to have to finance it,” the voice remarks. It’s low and raspy, obviously belonging to someone of older age. She connects it to an adult male, with messy hair and loose-fitting clothing. He lingers by the counter, seeming to be pondering over something. “I can’t pay for that cash…”

“Honey, this looks amazing,” the female customer is gushing to her husband, which only seems to spur the android employee to continue to list off more information. 

A small chime and two other customers walk in, another couple. None of the other customers had been alone so far, none except for the adult man standing by the register. 

Maybe that’s why she finds herself so focused on him.

“Can I go pick it up?” he asks another man who appears behind the desk, who promptly responds.

“Yeah, right back there,” he answers, and gestures towards her general direction.

He’s lead over to her, and upon closer look he appears very… tired. His clothes are old-looking and worn out, as if he had been sleeping in them for a few days. 

“It was a bit difficult getting it back in order,” the other man, younger and more white-collared says conversationally. “It was  _ really  _ messed up. What did you say happened to it again?”

The older man, who shifts and glances around the room as if nervous, hastily clears his voice, before responding after a second of hesitation, “a car hit it.” Then, “stupid accident…”

“Ah… I see… anyway, it’s as good as new now. Except that we had to reset it.” He looks back to her for a moment. She clings to the word.  _ Reset _ . “Meaning we had to wipe its memory. Hope you don’t mind.”

“That’ll be fine,” he replies, almost in an irritated manner. 

“Okay.” The younger male says easily, “did you give it a name?”

“My daughter did…”

His tone is bitter, but it’s also natural sounding, like it’s just part of the his voice. 

The two men look at each other for a moment, but then the employee turns back to her. “AX400, register your name.”

He steps back, and the older man steps forward, more into her line of sight. 

“Kara.”

A sense of familiarity. Her processors buzz as she digs through her data, but it doesn’t take but a moment to find what she’s looking for. The corners of her lips tug upwards and her audio processor runs smoothly despite the inactivity. 

_ Her name. _

“My name is Kara.”

* * *

**_November 5th, 2038_ **

**_PM 4:53_ **

Kara can’t help but lag behind a moment as she observes her new surroundings. Upon exiting the car, she’s immediately hit with a blast of cold air, and her sight processors are overwhelmed with new colors and new imagery. She’s sure she’s felt this all before, but, as she recalls the human employee back at the CyberLife shop stating, she was reset. And now she’s experiencing everything all over again as if it’s for the first time. And after being dormant for so long, it’s a bit overwhelming. 

“You coming?” Todd prompts, and she quickly collects herself and follows him onto the porch and into the house, which creaks lightly once she puts her weight onto it. She steps inside and closes the door behind her.

“You’ve been gone for two weeks, so the place is a mess.” He gestures around the both of them. Trash is littered around on tables and the floor, along with numerous stains and dirty carpets. “You do the housework, the washing, you cook the meals, and you take care of…”

He stops, turning back and glancing around the room. “Goddammit, where the fuck’s the brat gone now?”

She watches as he yells the “brat”’s name, increasingly getting more and more annoyed. “Alice!” he calls, and for some reason, there’s a sense of familiarity that strikes through her again, the same kind that pulsed through her earlier when Todd told her her name. 

His gaze falls on the stairs, on a small female girl clutching a faded fox toy to her chest. “Oh, there you are.”

The girl, Alice, has the same tired face as her father. Dark circles under her eyes, dull, pale skin. Her brown hair is tied back into a sloppy ponytail, and it looks unhealthy. Most of her skin is covered by clothing that hangs off of her skinny frame, but what’s not is freckled with bruises and scars, some fresh and some older-looking. She appears young, but…

“That’s Alice, you look after her,” her thoughts are interrupted as Todd continues, “homework, bath, all that crap…”

Alice regards her in a guarded way, appearing timid, so Kara musters the warmest smile that she can.

Alice doesn’t smile back.

“Got it?” Todd asks suddenly, and she snaps her attention back to him.

“Yes, Todd.”

“Get started down here, then you do upstairs,” he remarks, and then turns and heads to the couch.

Alice quickly hurries up the stairs, and Kara watches as her small form disappears around the corner followed by the gentle close of a door. For some reason, she gets an urge to follow her, but resists it in favor of her other tasks. She can try and communicate with her afterwards.

 

_      COLLECT TRASH _

_      COLLECT DISHES _

_      ACTIVATE VACUUM CLEANER _

_      CHECK THE BACKYARD _

 

After finishing the first floor, which mostly consisted of cleaning up empty beer bottles and washing the dishes (although, the dishwasher had to be fixed beforehand; no wonder there were so many dirty plates lying around), however, there was a brief moment where she ran into Alice whilst getting the laundry (which, followed Kara accidentally finding Todd’s stash of “Red Ice”, a synthetic drug that he was inhaling earlier). She tried to talk to her, but before she could even get the chance, the small girl turned and ran away. But, before she did so, Kara noticed she still had the same gaze as before; guarded and fearful, but… also longing. It makes her wonder just exactly what happened before she was reset. Alice must’ve known Kara before. But just what happened between them?

Kara could tell that there was many things Alice wanted to say to her, and she was confident that she would eventually open up, but she just needed to give her time. Which, was quite alright with Kara, after all, as a domestic android, she had plenty of patience to spare. 

Upstairs, Kara starts with Todd’s room. Once again, she picks up empty alcohol bottles, makes the bed, opens the window, and tidies it up. There’s plenty of magazines and books strewn across the floor, which she picks up and stacks neatly.

After briefly cleaning the bathroom, Kara heads to Alice’s room. As soon as the girl sees her, her eyes widen and she flattens herself against the headboard of her bed that she’s sitting on.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Kara says reassuringly, “I just need to clean up your room a bit. Is that alright with you?”

Alice doesn’t say anything, but doesn’t object and seems less afraid, so Kara takes that as a yes. 

She notices a faded drawing of a house on the wall next to the door, obviously not recently created. It’s visually childish, and seems like something Alice probably would’ve done when she was younger.

Taking another step, Kara notices a book on the floor. Bending down, she picks it up, and holds it in front of herself. It’s reasonably thick, and seems sort of out of place, but Kara understands as soon as she reads the title.

“Alice in Wonderland…” she says, aloud, glancing back at Alice. “Right. Of course.”

Alice looks down sheepishly, and Kara watches her for a few seconds, staying silent, before setting the book on one of Alice’s shelves and walking over to her, kneeling down so she’s more at her level.

“I know it must be difficult with me not remembering our past interactions,” Kara begins gently, watching Alice’s expressions closely. “But I’m sure we used to be friends before.”

Another hint of emotion shines through Alice’s eyes as she looks at Kara silently. Sadness. Sadness and longing.

Then she looks away again, and Kara tries to think of what else to say, what else to comfort her with; the look in her eyes tugs on her chest. She knows Alice needs  _ something _ but she doesn’t quite know what it is yet. But before she can open her mouth, Alice speaks.

“...I don’t want to talk.” A simple statement, one that, when said by younger humans is normally a sign of stubbornness and anger, but there’s no heat or anger behind it. In fact, Alice’s tone just sounds more… miserable. “There’s no point.”

“No point?” Kara urges, trying to capture Alice’s gaze once again. Alice refuses to look up, staring hard at her hands as she plays with a loose string on the comforter of the bed.

“You always forget. So what’s the point of saying anything if you won’t remember it.”

A sentence that should be a question, but Alice’s tone is so flat that it makes it a statement. So, Kara’s inferences were correct. They had known each other before. And, from the looks of it, they had probably been quite close. 

If only Kara could remember. How painful that must be.

“It must be hard, to keep having to say things over and over again, to have to meet your friend over and over again…” Kara speaks her mind, once again feeling a weight in her chest upon thinking about it. “And, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I keep forgetting. If I could remember everything, I would. But… I promise I won’t forget this time, alright?”

This time, Alice meets Kara’s eyes, but there’s a hint of ire in them now. “How do you know that?” Then, it softens a bit, as does her voice. “It’s always my fault...”

Alice’s fault that Kara gets reset? How would that make any sense? Unless…

“No, no, of course it’s not your fault,” Kara assures her quickly and firmly, that ache in her chest returning. “Never once has it been your fault, Alice.”

It occurs to Kara that she has let Alice suffer. “That’s Alice, you take care of her. Got it?” is what Todd had told her, but the reality is that she had  _ already _ hurt Alice, and there’s no way of reversing that. 

Every time she has failed, she fails Alice. Alice gets hurt another time. Kara can’t afford to fail again. She can’t leave Alice all alone again.  _ She has to do better. _

“You don’t know that,” Alice says, her voice just above a whisper. The ache persists, but Kara ignores it, slowly reaching out and grasping Alice’s hands in her own.

The girl makes a move to jerk them away, but Kara gently holds them in place, and Alice easily stills. 

“Alice.” She states the girl’s name softly but resolutely. “Look at me.”

Slowly, Alice’s eyes meet her own. “I  _ do  _ know that not one time I have been reset has it been your fault. Not once. And, I know that every time I got reset, it hurt you. Every time I got reset, I… I left you alone, didn’t I?” Kara pauses, more so to gather her thoughts and not actually expecting Alice to respond, but getting a small nod from her instead. “I’m sorry, Alice. I don’t know how many times I’ve been reset—”

“Fifteen,” Alice supplies. Kara swallows the thirium rising in her throat and continues. 

“—but I do know that I won’t let it happen again. I will protect you. I won’t let you get hurt anymore. I will stay by your side, Alice, no matter what. I won’t ever leave you again.”

Alice brightens at her words, just a little, just enough for Kara to catch it. A look of unadulterated hope shines in her brown eyes. “You… you mean it? You promise?”

“Yes,” Kara smiles, taking one of Alice’s hands in her own and bringing it upwards towards Alice’s face, pressing their palms together. She’s not sure why she does so, but only that it feels natural, as if it's... something she's done before. It almost feels like some sort of instinct. “I promise.”

Alice’s eyes grow damp, and there’s four seconds where she glances from their intertwined hands and then to Kara’s face, her lips parting ever so slightly like she wants to say something, but she isn’t sure what. 

Instead, Kara’s abruptly knocked backwards when Alice throws her arms around her and brings both of them to the floor, burying her face in Kara’s chest and speaking gleefully into her clothing.

“Kara, you came back!” Her voice is watery, and her grip is tight. “It’s really you!”

Although she isn’t sure exactly what Alice means, she doesn’t say so. She brings her hands to Alice’s shoulder blades and embraces her back, enjoying the pleasant sensation of another body against her own, and the faint scent of Alice's shampoo. 

“Yes, Alice,” she says back, smiling into the girl’s hair, “it’s really me. And I’m not going anywhere.”

She may not remember now, but she’s confident that she will. She’ll get her memories back. And if she can’t, then she’ll make new ones. And they’ll replace the older ones. The not-so-happy ones.

There’s a lot that Kara isn’t sure of right now. But, as she feels a faint wetness sinking into her clothing, and she holds the tiny but oh so warm form of Alice in her arms, she is sure of one thing. That, no matter what happens, she’s going to protect this little girl with her life and make sure she sees her smile.


	2. Something You've Never Seen Before

**_November 5th, 2038_ **

**_AM 9:58_ **

“Alarm deactivated. Welcome home, Markus.”

Package of paints in hand, Markus walks into his home. He sets it down on a nearby table, slipping off his jacket and hanging it up on the coatrack.

Promptly, he heads upstairs, entering Carl’s room to find him sleeping soundly. In one motion he draws the curtains, letting the sun light up the room.

Carl stirs, sitting up almost startledly, but relaxing once he lays his eyes on Markus. “Good morning, Carl.”

“Good morning,” he mutters back, sitting up slowly. Markus begins reciting his morning routine.

“It’s 10 AM. The weather is partly cloudy, fifty-four degrees, 80% humidity with a strong possibility of afternoon showers.”

Carl has laid back down by the time he finishes, lacing his hands over his stomach. “It sounds like a good day to spend in bed.”

He detects a hint of humor in the man’s voice. He gives a small smile as he walks over to the bedside table to get Carl’s medicine.

“I did go to get the paint that you ordered,” he states, noticing the brief look of realization in Carl’s eyes.

“Oh, yes, I had forgotten.” He looks up at Markus, studying him, his gaze turning thoughtful. “But, that’s the difference between you and me, right, Markus? You never forget anything.”

He’s completely correct, unless in the chance an error occurred, and some of his memories were wiped. Or, if he would be reset. But those two events are very unlikely.

There was a kind of sadness in Carl’s voice when he said that, he realizes. Almost pitiful. Markus doesn’t really understand it.

Medicine in hand, Markus turns back to the man beside him. “Show me your arm please, Carl.”

“No!” he remarks promptly. Markus looks at him.

“Carl…” he reprimands, to which Carl sighs and lays his arm in Markus’s palm.

“Thank you.”

He presses the device against his skin gently. “I just opened my eyes and I’m already gritting my teeth,” Carl complains, to which Markus gives him a sympathetic smile.

“Humans are such a fragile machine. They break down so quickly,” he begins while Markus has started to administer his medicine. Markus glances up at him. “All this effort to keep ‘em going…”

He says it normally, like it’s not a big deal. But there’s a much deeper meaning behind his words. A human problem, one of mortality. Something that androids aren’t really familiar with.

Markus doesn’t notice the look of concern on Carl’s face until he’s grasping at his shoulders.

“What happened to your clothes?”

He briefly remembers being pushed down and yelled at. He had to pass by the protestors to get home. “Oh, it’s nothing,” he assures him, placing his hands on Carl’s and resting them back on the bed, “just some demonstrators in the street, Carl.”

Carl frowns. “What a bunch of idiots. They think they can stop progress by roughing up a few androids?” He puts a hand on Markus’s forearm, his tone of voice softening. “I hope they didn’t harm you…”

“Oh, no, no,” he says quickly, “they just pushed me around, Carl. I’m fine.”

A quiet sound lets him know that the medicine has successfully been injected into Carl’s system, and he pulls away. “I’ll take you to the bathroom now.”

Gingerly, he picks Carl up and takes him into the bathroom, politely looking away and carrying him out once again when he’s done. Markus takes him to his wheelchair, pushing him out of the room when Carl starts to speak.

“Anything special on the agenda today?” he asks, and Markus doesn’t even have to check, having already looked at the plan for today beforehand.

“Yes, there’s the opening of your retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art,” he replies. “The gallery director left four messages asking me to confirm your attendance.”

“I haven’t decided yet. We’ll see about that later. What else?”

“Just your usual fanmail. I’ve already answered.”

He begins down the stairs as Carl’s wheelchair is lifted and begins to follow him. “Any news from Leo?”

Leo, Carl’s son, twenty-eight years old. He's been involved in some concerning activities lately. It makes sense why Carl’s worried.

“No, Carl,” he says, and then adds at Carl’s slight change of expression, “I can call him if you like?”

“No,” he answers almost instantly, “no, don’t bother.”

Reaching the end of the stairs, Markus takes hold of the wheelchair and pushes him into the kitchen.

“I’m starving,” Carl declares as soon as they enter. Markus smiles to himself.

“Well, your breakfast is ready. Bacon and eggs, just the way you like them.”

“Thank you, Markus.”

“You’re welcome.”

He pushes Carl up to the table and walks into the next room to retrieve the tray of food. He renters, serving it to Carl.

“Thank you, Markus.”

Carl always makes sure to thank him, even though Markus is simply doing his job. By human standards, that’s something to appreciate. 

Carl turns on the news, glancing up at Markus when he continues to stay by his side. “Why don’t you find something to do while I finish my breakfast?”

“Sure,” Markus answers, “okay, Carl.”

He walks around the room, exploring his options. He glances at the piano, feeling an urge in his fingers to play, but something else catches his eye. On the bookshelf, one of the books is placed the wrong way. He takes it out, glancing at the cover. _Plato’s Republic_. Oh, he remembers this book. Carl had mentioned it to him a couple of times. He must’ve been reading it at some point and put it back in the bookshelf the wrong way. Markus skims through it, deciding that since he’s pulled it out he might as well spend some time with it.

Carl wheels himself over, glancing at the book. “What are you reading?”

Markus closes it. “ _Plato’s Republic_.” He gestures towards the book. “It’s one of the books you recommended.”

He seems pleased. “So, what do you think?”

Markus takes a second to gather his thoughts. The topic had always been interesting to him. Perhaps because a lot of what it involves is quite alien, considering he is a machine. “I quite like philosophy, I think. It asks the questions that I can’t answer. What is right and what is wrong, for example. It’s not something that is so easy to decide.”

Carl inclines his head to the right slightly. “Asking questions that have no answer is a part of being human, Markus.”

He ponders that for a moment. It’s hard to comprehend that there are questions that simply have no answer. Problems with no solution. Markus wants to _know._ It’s in his coding. How can humans deal with that? It only bothers androids because of their coding, but humans have the added factor of emotion. Doesn’t that drive them crazy? Just simply not being able to _know_?

“...One day, I won’t be able to take care of you anymore,” Carl starts suddenly. It appears that while Markus was in his thoughts, Carl was contemplating something as well. “You’ll have to protect yourself, and make your choices. Decide who you are, and wanna become.”

_Decide who he is?_

_Who he is?_

He is Markus, an RK200, owned by Carl Manfred. That’s really all there is to it, right?

“The world doesn’t like people who are different, Markus,” Carl continues, observing Markus while he speaks. “Don’t let anyone tell you who you should be.”

_Who he should be…_

He can _be_ _someone_?

_But…_

“Let’s go to the studio,” Carl states, and Markus is grateful to have an excuse to stop that train of thought. He does what he’s told, entering the studio and immediately being greeted by the opening of the curtains and light flooding the room. He situates Carl by the lift, watching to make sure he is picked up safely. All goes well, and the machine turns him around to the curtained painting, lifting him upwards.

“Let’s see where we left off,” he says, “remove the sheet.”

Promptly, Markus grabs the rod and pulls the fabric away. As Carl begins to get to work, Markus walks around the room and tidies up, picking up a few scrolls of paper on the floor, and cleaning up the table and the shelf. Carl spends another two minutes finishing up the portrait before coming down and pushing himself backwards to observe his work.

“So…” he looks from the painting to Markus, “what your verdict, Markus?”

Markus looks at the painting, at the endless shades of color and neat brushstrokes, and the image makes him feel something in his thirium pump that he can’t quite put his finger on.

“Yes, there is something about it,” he muses, deciding to speak his mind. Carl hums at his statement. “Something I can’t… quite define.”

He opens his mouth before closing it again, moving on. “I guess I like it.”

Carl keeps his eyes trained on the painting. “The truth is I have nothing left to say anymore…” he shrugs his shoulders. “Each day that goes by brings me closer to the end. I’m just an old man clinging to his brushes.”

He shakes his head ruefully, and Markus feels another pull in his chest, but it’s different than what he got when looking at the painting. It’s heavier.

“Carl…”

How must it feel, to be in that position? He tries to find the words to make Carl feel better, but nothing comes to mind. He just really has no idea…

There’s a brief beat of silence, and Carl is the one to break it. “But enough about me,” he says. “Let’s see if you have any talent.”

Markus stares at him, not exactly sure what he wants.

“Give it a try,” he prompts. “Try painting something.”

“Paint?” he repeats, “But, what I—… painting what?”

“Anything you want.” Is the answer he’s given. Anything he wants. _Wants?_ He _doesn’t_ want _._

Carl gestures towards the empty canvas in front of the both of them. “Give it a try.”

With a sigh, Markus picks up the palette and brush when Carl holds them out for him, turning towards the canvas and staring at it. With a swift glance around the room, he finds a statue to reference, and begins to paint that.

“That is a perfect _copy_ of reality,” Carl says when he finishes, “but painting is not about replicating the world. It’s about interpreting it, improving on it, showing something you see.”

Markus hears the words he’s saying but he can’t exactly understand them. “Carl, I—…” he briefly searches his database, but finds nothing of help, “I don’t think I can do that, it’s not in my program…” Carl says nothing, continuing to look at him. “I…”

“Go on, try,” he encourages, “grab that canvas.”

He gestures towards the image Markus just painted, and Markus picks it up and sets it on the table beside them, pulling out a new one.

“Do something for me,” Carl says, “close your eyes, close your eyes.”

Markus looks at him, not exactly sure what to do or what he’s wanting. 

“Trust me,” Carl tells him, and slowly, Markus turns back towards the canvas, his eyes flickering shut.

“Try to imagine something that doesn’t exist. Something you’ve never seen.”

Something that doesn’t exist? Something he’s never seen...

“Now concentrate on how it makes you feel… and let your hand drift across the canvas.”

His hand begins moving as his thoughts delve deeper, exploring ideas and possibilities and _unanswered questions_. The motions become fluid, easy, the deeper he goes and he feels the drag of the brush as it moves along the surface of the canvas swiftly. Only when his thoughts begin to die down is when it slows. He drops his hand, having lost his momentum, and slowly opens his eyes.

A hand. Reaching upwards. Chains wrapped around the palm and the wrist. A blue substances dripping down the skin. _Thirium_.

He created something. Something out of nothing. His _own_ _thoughts_. He…

He barely hears Carl beside him. “Oh my God…”

The sound of the doors opening behind him followed by footsteps he hears clearly, though. He stands in place, only turning around when he hears a familiar voice.

“Hey, dad.”

Leo.

“Leo…” Carl says his name in surprise. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

Markus instantly notices that there’s something off about him. He’s fidgeting, shifting his weight from right to left, and his eyes are darting around the room. It’s like he’s nervous, or scared of something. Markus can even hear it in his voice when he continues to speak.

“Ah, I was in the neighborhood, I thought I’d stop by,” he explains, his hands moving rather wildly as he talks. “It’s been a while, right?”

Carl, though, notices his unnatural behavior as well. “You all right?” he questions, “you don’t look so good.”

Markus takes the palette in both hands, watching Carl’s son carefully.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he says quickly. Too quickly. He throws his arms out clumsily. There’s a nervous laugh. “Hey listen, uh… I need some cash, dad.”

“Again?” Leo takes a few shaky steps, not answering. “What happened to the cash I just gave you?”

He glances around nervously. “Uh… well, it just goes, you know?”

Another choked laugh. “Yeah,” Carl says, “...you’re on it again, aren’t you?”

“No, no, I swear it’s not that—”

“Don’t lie to me, Leo.”

“ _What difference does it make? I just need some cash, that’s all!_ ”

He finally snaps and raises his voice, his previous demeanor completely gone.

“Sorry,” Carl furrows his eyebrows, “the answer’s no.”

“What? _Why_?”

“You know why.”

He looks up at Markus, as if just noticing he’s in the room, and then back to Carl. “Yeah, yeah… I do think I know why.” He raises an accusing hand towards Markus. “You’d rather take care of your plastic toy here than your own son, eh?”

He stalks over to Markus, looking him up and down. There's hatred burning in his eyes. Jealousy and anger. “Tell me dad, what’s it got that I don’t? It’s smarter?” He takes another step. “More obedient? Not like _me_ , right?”

He gets in Markus’s face. Markus simply looks ahead.

“But you know what? This _thing_ is not your son.” He turns around to face Carl briefly. “It’s a _fucking machine!”_

Markus finds himself suddenly pushed backwards, by Leo, he realizes, but he quickly regains his balance.

“Leo, that’s enough,” Carl says sternly. “ _Enough._ ”

Leo breathes heavily, looking off to the side. “You don’t care about anything except yourself and your goddamn paintings. You’ve never loved anyone.” He leans forward slightly, and Markus continues to watch him closely. “You’ve never loved me, dad…”

He begins towards the door, but before he goes out, he mutters again, “you never loved me.”

He storms out of the house.

Markus looks back to Carl, who simply leans forward in his wheelchair and rests his face in his palms.

...Markus isn’t sure what to think.


	3. The Lieutenant

**_November 5th, 2038_ **

**_PM 11:57_**

_Up. Down. Up. Down. Up…_

Systems fully re-calibrated, Connor grasps the coin firmly in his hand before pocketing it. In a swift motion he reaches up and straightens his tie, promptly walking toward the bar he was told he would find the Lieutenant at.

On the door, a bright red sign reading _NO ANDROIDS ALLOWED_ is stuck clearly onto the front of it, but with his orders in mind, Connor opens it and proceeds anyway.

 

_FIND LIEUTENANT ANDERSON_

 

Connor scans the two men seated at the table closest to the door. Neither of them are the Lieutenant. He moves on to other patrons towards the back, and then finally to the ones sitting at the counter. He knows all of their full names, their ages, their approximate birthdays, criminal records, and their job status, but it all fades together. None of it matters. It’s all useless information. None of them are the one that he’s looking for.

And then, he gets to an older looking man, maybe around his early fifties, with his head down and his hand clenched around a shot glass.

_LT. ANDERSON, HANK_

_Born 09/06/1985//Police Lieutenant_

_Criminal Record: None_

_MATCH_

Connor approaches him, studying him for a moment and waiting for any kind of reaction. He gets none.

“Lieutenant Anderson,” he begins, “my name is Connor. I’m the android sent by CyberLife.”

No response at all. Which, is probably to be expected. He continues.

“I looked for you at the station but nobody knew where you were.” He glances downwards. “They said you were probably having a drink nearby. I was lucky to find you at the fifth bar.”

The Lieutenant is quiet, staring intently at his drink. After three seconds approximately, though, he speaks.

“What do you want?”

He asks the question quickly and briefly. Connor isn’t sure if he just wants nothing to do with him, or if it’s the alcohol. Maybe both.

“You were assigned a case early this evening,” he explains, “a homicide, involving a CyberLife android.” He pauses. The Lieutenant still doesn’t look up. “In accordance with procedure, the company has allocated a specialized model to assist investigators.”

“Well, I don’t _need_ any assistance,” he sends a brief glare over his shoulder at Connor, “‘specially not from a plastic asshole like you. So be a good lil’ robot and get the fuck outta here.”

He dismisses Connor easily with a small movement of his hand before lifting his drink up to his mouth. Connor remains still, watching him, and deciding how to go about this from what he’s seen of the Lieutenant’s personality so far.

“Listen, I think you should stop drinking, and come with me.”

Which, would be reasoning. He seems like a person who could be reasonable.

“It’ll make life easier for the both of us.”

Sarcastically, the Lieutenant nods, taking another drink. He _could_ be reasonable. Just maybe when he’s a little more sober.

He puts the glass down for a moment, and before he can take another drink, Connor speaks.

“I am sorry Lieutenant, but I must insist,” he says, “my instructions stipulate that I have to accompany you.”

“You know where you can stick your instructions?” he asks, followed by a chuckle before taking the drink that Connor interrupted him from. Connor tilts his head slightly, not understanding the meaning of the Lieutenant’s words. He could put his instructions somewhere? Would it be helpful to the investigation?

“No,” Connor replies, still trying to analyze the statement, “where?”

The Lieutenant abruptly puts the glass down, turning to look at Connor incredulously. “Never mind…”

Connor studies him. He’s still not sure exactly what he meant, but he moves it down on his priorities for now. His gaze flickers to the now empty shot glass on the table, and he gets another idea.

“You know what? I’ll buy you one for the road.” He tries to make his voice as warm as possible. “What do you say?”

No response, but maybe that’s better than some of the alternatives.

He flags down the bartender. “Bartender, the same again, please.”

Connor pulls out a dollar and places it on the counter.

“See that, Jim? Wonders of technology…” the corners of the Lieutenant’s lips tug upwards, even if it’s only slightly. “Make it a double.”

The bartender fills his cup and he easily downs it all in one gulp. He puts it down rather loudly, heaving a heavy sigh before slowly turning to Connor.

“Did you say homicide?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is kind of short, lol. there's a reason though. i also purposefully split up the first three povs into separate chapters. they won't always be like this in the future, and will be much longer.  
> thank you for reading! if you have any suggestions or the like feel free to comment below. next chapter should be out soon


	4. Then the Rain Came

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning!! if you're sensitive with topics like sexual assault please be careful.

**_November 5th, 2038_ **

**_PM 9:42_ **

“That was, by far, the most boring party I’ve been to in the last twenty-five years.”

Markus pushes Carl into the house, listening to him contentedly. “Every time I go to one of these, I ask myself, ‘what the hell am I doing here?’” He slips the umbrella off his wrist, putting it on a rack beside him. “I hate cocktail parties,” Carl is saying, “and all the _schmoozers_ that go there.”

Markus inclines his head slightly. “Well, it’s a chance for all those people who admire your work to meet you.”

He takes Carl’s coat, hanging it up to dry as well. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, no one gives a damn about art. All they care about is how much money they’re going to make out of it.”

Carl certainly isn’t that way, though. He can see the passion in Carl’s paintings, can hear it when he talks about them. But Markus chooses not to say that out loud.

“Come on, let’s have a drink!” Carl suggests. “All the excitement of this whole thing has made me thirsty…”

“Well, _I_ can’t exactly drink, at least as of right now with my current programming, but…” Markus wheels him into the kitchen, “Scotch, neat, as usual?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay,” he agrees, “but you know what your doctor would say.”

“Yeah, well he can kiss my ass. I’m old enough to choose my own medication.”

Markus picks up a glass, pouring it a little over halfway with the amber liquid. He turns to give it to Carl, but Carl isn’t facing him, he’s facing the door of the studio…

Where light is shining through the windows.

“Did you leave the light on in the studio?”

Markus doesn’t even have to check his memory. He clearly remembers turning it off. “No… no, I’m sure I didn’t.”

He places the glass back down on the table. “Call the police,” Carl instructs. Markus does exactly so.

“Detroit Police, what’s your emergency?”

“This is Carl Manfred’s android, at 8941 Lafayette Avenue. We’ve just returned home and found the lights on. There may have been a break-in.”

“A patrol car is on the way.”

The call is ended. Carl speaks. “Let’s go check it out.”

Markus takes Carl’s chair and cautiously pushes him into the room. A figure is bent over the table with paintings spread over it.

“Leo!”

He jerks his head up. Carl glares at him. “What are you doing?”

“You refuse to help me, so I’m helping myself,” is his explanation, “it’s crazy what some people will pay for this shit…”

“Don’t touch them!”

Leo stops at this straightening up and facing Markus and Carl both. “Look, they’re all gonna be mine sooner or later anyway. Just think of it as a down payment on my inheritance.”

Carl shakes his head. “Markus, get him away from there. Get him outta here!”

_MAKE LEO LEAVE_

 

He approaches, trying to be civil with him. “Listen,” he starts, “you should go before things get worse.”

Leo ignores him, stepping to the side. “All you ever do is tell me to go away,” he continues, “what’s wrong, dad? I’m not good enough for you?”

“Not _perfect_ ,” Leo gestures to Markus with his hands, “like this _fucking thing_?”

He steps back in front of Markus, but still won't look him in the face.

“That’s enough! Get out, _right now_!” Carl comes in between the both of them. “Go on, _move_!”

“What makes it so special anyway?” Leo talks over Carl, “what’s it got that I don’t?”

“No, Leo, leave him _alone_!”

Leo harshly pushes Carl out of the way before shoving Markus backwards. “Come on,” he urges, “let’s see what you got.”

“Markus,” Carl mutters in a warning tone, “don’t defend yourself, you hear me?”

_DON’T DEFEND YOURSELF_

 

“Don’t do anything.”

“Go ahead, hit me!” Leo yells at Markus, “what are you waiting for?”

He pushes Markus again.

 

_DON’T DEFEND MYSELF?_

 

“Think you’re a man? Act like one!”

He pushes Markus again.

 

_THIS IS NOT FAIR_

 

He can hear Carl coughing, in obvious distress, but can’t step away from Leo.

“What’s the matter?” Leo taunts, “too much of a pussy?”

Leo shoves him backwards. Again.

Carl is ordering him to stop, but Leo doesn’t listen.

“Too scared to fight back, you fucking bitch?”

Leo strikes Markus across the face. And then strikes him again. And again.

 

_I DON’T HAVE TO OBEY THEM_

 

Again.

 

_I MUST DECIDE FOR MYSELF_

 

Markus is only protecting Carl. Carl doesn’t deserve this. If Carl can’t make his son listen, make him be a good person, maybe Markus can. He’s not going to sit here and let Leo beat him to a blue, metal pulp. He needs to take care of Carl. Leo isn't fit to take care of him. Markus is all he has.

Markus pushes himself upwards again.

“Oh right, that’s right! I forgot, you’re not a real person… You’re just a _fucking piece of plastic._ ” Pushes Markus. Again. Grabs him by the collar. “Listen to me. I’m gonna destroy destroy you, and then it’ll just be me and my dad. I’m gonna tear you apart and nobody’s gonna give a shit. You wanna know why?” Leo jeers at him. “Cause you’re nothing. You hear me? _You’re nothing!_ ”

 

_I CAN FEEL_

 

Markus grabs Leo’s shirt.

 

_I AM ALIVE_

 

Markus pushes him away, and he only means to put a safe amount of distance between them. He only tries to get Leo to back off, to give him a second to collect himself, to try to get Leo to stop talking so he can attempt to calm him down.

But Markus underestimates his strength.

And Leo goes flying backwards, falling and hitting his head on the crane that Carl uses to lift himself up to his paintings.

He’s not moving.

Carl drops out of his wheelchair, crawling over the floor to his now unmoving son. He pushes himself into a sitting position, cradling the body.

“Leo…” there’s tears streaming down his cheeks, “oh, my God.”

Markus, he…

_What has he just done?_

“Leo,” Markus can hear the pain in his voice, can _feel_ it himself, “my little boy…”

“Carl, I…”

He approaches slowly, hands that he just used to harm held out, not sure what else to do with them. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone anymore. He didn’t mean to. He didn’t want this to happen. _This wasn’t supposed to happen._

Carl just looks at him. Markus is hyperventilating. Androids can’t exactly have panic attacks, per say, but their systems can overheat and their stress levels can go up too high, and Markus could feel his about reaching the limit.

“They’ll… they’ll destroy you, Markus!” Carl points out. “You gotta go! Get out of here!”

Leave…?

He can’t leave. This is all he’s ever known. He can _feel._ He _cares_ about Carl. He can’t just leave him. Carl can’t be on his own. He needs to take care of Carl, play piano for him, stay up with him talking, see him smile, help him with his paintings, he… he can’t just _go!_

“Carl, no…” _he didn’t mean to do this, there has to be some other way, some way to fix this,_  “no, please, I don’t want to leave you…” he gets down on his knees, “Please, I can’t…”

Carl says nothing. He hears a car parking outside. Markus gets back to his feet, unsure of what to do. He can’t leave. He can’t. He _can’t_.

“ _Get out_ _!_ ” Carl screams, “ _now!_ ” Markus doesn’t move. Can’t bring himself to move. “ _Go!_ ”

Two police officers enter the room. They’re pointing their guns at Markus. But… why?

Carl reaches for him.

“Don’t fucking move,” they say. He doesn’t. He has his hands up. _He doesn’t move._

But he hears the sound of the gunshot, and feels it enter his skin, and then everything goes dark.

* * *

**_November 5th, 2038_ **

**_PM 9:14_ **

It’s storming outside.

Todd is sleeping soundly on the couch, Kara made sure. He’s not going to be waking up any time soon.

Alice is sitting on her bed, beside Kara, holding the fox toy she had earlier. The pair had been talking quietly for quite a while, thirty eight minutes to be exact. So far, it’s the most Kara has heard Alice talk. The girl had been trying to bridge the gaps in her memory, and seemingly trying to trigger some. But Kara couldn’t remember. It’s like she’s in a box that she can’t get out of, and her memories and Alice are on the outside where she _just can’t reach them._

“You made this for me,” Alice murmurs to Kara, holding up the animal plushie and handing it to her. “It’s the only toy that I still have.”

The only one she has kept. It must be special to her. Kara feels herself warm at the thought.

She takes the toy into her hands. It doesn’t look or feel familiar at all. The fabric is soft and the stitches are neat, although some of them are beginning to come out. The color is faded and and there’s a small tear by the its neck. It must be fairly old.

Thinking about it, that would make more sense. It seems like something Alice wouldn’t be as interested in now. But that also brings up another question.

How old _is_ Alice, exactly?

Her height and size tell Kara that she should be around twelve or so, but her mannerisms aren’t as childlike to be expected of a human female who is twelve years old, and neither is her body structure.

Slowly, she hands Alice back the fox, and Alice places it on her nightstand. Kara waits for a moment to see if she wants to say anything else, and when she doesn’t, she lets herself ask the question that’s been floating around in her mind.

“How old are you, Alice?”

Alice glances up at her, and Kara adds, “I’m sorry, I know it’s something else that I should know.”

“No,” Alice murmurs, her brows furrowing in thought, “it’s okay. Dad doesn’t like when I talk about that around you.” She takes a moment, mouthing words to herself that Kara can’t make out. “...I’m sixteen.”

_Sixteen?_

When Alice stands, she’s roughly five feet and one inch. She can’t weigh more than 96 pounds. Kara’s database tells her that the average height of a sixteen year old female is five feet and four inches, while the healthy weight is anywhere from 111 pounds to 140. She’s not sure of Alice’s exact weight, but she’s sure it’s not anywhere close to 111 pounds and most certainly not 140.

“I know,” Alice says, picking up on her slight confusion, looking down at her hands, “I don’t look like any of the other girls at school.”

Obviously, there are always outliers to sets of data. But Alice is a dangerous outlier, in an unhealthy range for her age. There’s no way she’s been eating enough and getting proper nutrients, which is vital to a growing human teenager. Lack of proper nutrients could lead to a number of other health problems, some that could even result in death. _Alice needs to eat more._

Kara had already served dinner, cooking Alice a small dish of pasta, as noodles were really the only cookable ingredient in the house she had to work with. She did the same for Todd, who was dozing, and upon being woken up told her to simply put it in the fridge and that he’d eat it later. But that wasn’t enough for Alice, especially when there’s a high likelihood that the girl hadn’t been eating at all or eating close to nothing while Kara was gone.

“Are you hungry?” Kara asks rather suddenly, noting that her stress level had risen over the past few minutes. She just is very inclined to try and give Alice food now, even if she knows she’s not going to automatically nurture her back to health. “I know you just ate, but it wasn’t a lot.”

“No, I don’t want anything else,” Alice answers simply. “We shouldn’t go downstairs again. We might wake up dad.”

Kara stays quiet, silently urging her to elaborate. Alice takes a hand and smoothes down her hair. “Dad gets… really angry at night.”

There’s fear in Alice’s brown eyes. Kara’s chest grows tight.

“Okay,” Kara agrees, “we won’t go downstairs. We’ll stay in here.”

Alice is relieved at this. “Thank you.” The relief turns back into discomfort. “He can be really scary sometimes.”

Alice grasps at her shoulder, rubbing it absentmindedly. Kara isn’t sure what to say. But the tugging, tight feeling she feels in her thirium pump has gotten progressively worse. There’s nothing wrong with it, she would know, she self tests regularly to make sure everything is running smoothly, so she doesn’t have much of a choice but to endure it.

“...Is there really nothing you remember?” Alice asks, after a small pause.

“No,” Kara answers reluctantly. She wishes she did. Understanding Alice would be a lot easier that way. “I’m sorry, Alice. But I will try my best to get some of our memories back, okay?”

Alice isn’t very convinced. “Is that even possible?”

Truthfully, Kara isn't sure. But, when she saw Alice for the first time since her reset, there was a sense of familiarity. Being with Alice was easy, comfortable. She had the urge to get to know her, and to keep an eye on her. She knew Alice was someone she had somehow known before. And maybe, if she could remember Alice, there could be a way to remember other things as well.

“I don’t know,” Kara admits, “but we’re definitely going to do our best to try.”

Alice thinks for a moment. “Maybe… if you saw something from before a past reset, it could help? Or... we can visit some of the places we went before you were reset.”

“We’ll do both,” Kara assures her, “and this time, I won’t forget.”

Alice nods, moving a bit closer towards Kara, and Kara has to stifle her smile.

“...Kara, can you sleep with me?” she asks in a small voice, avoiding Kara’s gaze. Kara smiles at her warmly, not bothering to restrain herself this time, putting a hand on her back.

“Of course, Alice. I don’t see why not.” Alice slightly leans into Kara’s touch, and Kara opts to rub gentle circles on her back. “Are you tired right now?”

“Kinda,” Alice says, then notice’s Kara’s raised brow and sighs, “okay, fine, yeah, I am.”

“You have had a long day.” Kara pats her shoulder understandingly before retracting her hand and dropping her it into her lap. “Let’s get you to bed.”

Alice goes into the closet to change into sleepwear, and Kara makes her bed and begins turning out the lights, waiting to turn off the last one until Alice is back out and changed. She would’ve gone downstairs to check on Todd, but considering his mood lately and Alice’s plead for her not to go back down there, she concludes that he’s an adult and can take care of the rest himself. If he needs her, he can call her.

“Thank you,” Alice says quietly, climbing back into bed. Kara smiles at her and turns off the light, resolving to sleep in bed with Alice when she finds the brunette looking at her expectantly. Kara wasn’t sure if that was okay with her, but she supposes it is.

She lies down next to Alice, making sure to give the human girl ample room. Which, isn’t hard, considering her small size, and once again Kara is reminded of how malnourished she is, and makes sure to mark on her priorities to begin to get Alice back to health.

Kara decides to stay up for a little while before entering her defragmentation process, just in case Alice needs anything. Alice doesn’t request anything, staying very still on her side with little noise, but does ask a question after two minutes of silence.

“Androids don’t really sleep, do they?”

Kara takes a moment to think about how to answer. “Sort of,” she replies. “We can go into a resting mode called defragmentation. It’s not the same as human sleep, but it’s similar.”

Alice considers this. “Do you dream?”

Kara can’t remember whether or not she’s “dreamt” before, considering her resets, but her database tells her that sometimes during an android’s defragmentation they do have “dream-like” experiences, normally consisting of something they were thinking about or doing during the day. It’s rare to actually remember, though, as the images seen are normally not necessary to be kept.

“Sometimes,” Kara answers, not really sure how to explain it to Alice. “But it’s not in the way that you do.”

If Alice isn’t satisfied with the answer she doesn’t say so, simply humming quietly in response and then falling quiet again. After staying aware for another ten minutes, Kara notices Alice’s slow, even breaths, and realizes she’s asleep. The sound comforts her, and she closes her eyes as well, entering her defragmentation process, and hoping that, if she does have a “dream” tonight, that she shares what Alice dreams of as well.

* * *

Kara opens her eyes to a gentle shaking and hushed, anxious whispers. The room is dark, it’s obviously late at night—nearly eleven-thirty, the clock reads—and she turns to see Alice staring at her, her skin pale and her eyes filled with anxiety.

“Alice?” she murmurs in response, sitting up slightly to face the girl. “What’s wrong?”

Just as she says this, she hears distant, but approaching footsteps. They aren’t evenly placed, a few seconds in between each, as if the person is stumbling.

 _Todd_. Todd is awake.

“Kara…!” Alice whispers desperately, grasping onto Kara’s arm tightly. She can feel the tiny girl shake. “He… he can’t come in here, he…” she inhales sharply, “he’ll hurt you if he sees you!”

“Alice, what about you?” she traces Alice’s cheek with her thumb, only noticing that she’s doing so when Alice leans into her.

“It’s okay,” she says hurriedly, “please just…”

There’s a faint crash, as if Todd had fallen, followed by a string of loud curses. Alice looks up at Kara pleadingly, and Kara reluctantly gets up and out of the bed, surveying the room for somewhere to hide herself. The ajar closet door is the first place she sees, and rushes towards it as Todd’s footsteps get louder, bringing the door a little more than halfway shut just as it was before.

Through the small space, Kara watches, tilting her head so the light of her LED is hidden. She sees Alice on the bed, alone, now, pulling the blankets up and around herself as if they were some sort of shield. She looks so much frightened now that she’s by herself, so much more small and defenseless, and Kara has a brief moment of wondering if she should go back out, but her decision is made for her when the door is thrown open.

Alice clasps a blanketed hand over her mouth, presumably to keep quiet. Todd stumbles into the room, the hallway lights shining over his large build. As soon as he enters, Kara’s scent processors are clouded with an overwhelming scent of alcohol, beer to be more specific. Todd fumbles for the lightswitch, managing to turn it on his third try.

Alice whimpers quietly.

Todd begins to stagger over to Alice, who in turn clambers away from his touch. “Please…” she tries to reason with him fearfully, clasping her hands together as she begs, “don’t, dad…”

“Don’t?” Todd practically spits in Alice’s face, “yeah, and since when do you tell me what to fuckin’ do, little brat?”

His words are slurred. He’s definitely intoxicated. And maybe even under the influence of something else. He was… inhaling something earlier.

Todd reaches for Alice, who tries and fails to evade his grasp, managing to grab the ends of her hair and pull her forward.

Alice yelps, reaching upwards and trying to get away, but Todd roughly throws her back onto the bed, causing her to fall backwards and hit herself against the headboard.

“D-Dad… stop…”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Todd slaps her across the face as she continues to struggle, shocking her enough to be able to yank her legs out from under her pinning her down. She sobs loudly, hitting his chest and repeatedly imploring him to get off of her.

Kara’s hand tightens on the doorknob. Todd is going to hurt Alice.

“All your fuckin’ fault…” Todd’s muttering as his hands move across something Kara can't see, “look too much like your whore of a mother…”

_Todd is going to hurt Alice._

“I’ll do _anything,_ just, _please,_ daddy, _stop_ —”

“I told you to _shut the fuck up!”_

Todd raising his hand again, balling it into a fist, but before he can strike Alice, Kara bursts out of the closet.

“Stop!”

Alice freezes, looking up at Kara with a combination of both relief and terror, a strange mix, and Todd lowers his hand, slowly turning around.

“The hell are you doing in here?” he demands, getting up. “Well? Get the fuck out!”

In one swift motion, he grabs Kara by the shoulders and swings her towards the door, shoving her into the hallway. She moves to try to step back into the room, to check on Alice, to make sure she’s okay, but Todd steps in front of her.

“Don’t _fucking move_ ,” he hisses. That’s an order.

 

_DON’T MOVE_

 

Todd turns around and slams the door behind him, and Kara can hear Alice’s scream of surprise.

_Don’t move._

“Stop it, please…!”

_Don’t move._

“Shut _up_ , whore.”

_Don’t move._

Alice is crying loudly. Todd is large and Alice is tiny, there’s no way she can defend herself against him.

_Don’t move._

Todd is going to hurt Alice. Todd _has_ hurt Alice. With her health, Kara doesn’t think there’s much more that she can withstand.

_Don’t move._

Kara wants… wants? Kara doesn’t want. Kara is a machine. She does not feel.

_Don’t move._

But…

She can’t stand the thought of Alice being hurt, it makes her collectional biocompent freeze up and her chest ache, it feels like there’s something blocking her vocal unit. She knows that Todd is going to do something to Alice. Something that she may not be able to recover from. Something that… has maybe happened before.

_Don’t move._

Kara hasn’t fully protected Alice in the past. Alice has been hurt, many, many times. The way she acts and the bruises on her thighs and the cuts on her arms only further serve as evidence. Alice can’t protect herself, not really. She’s too small. Too weak. It’s not her fault. She tries her best. She needs someone to look after her. Someone to protect her. That’s what Kara _should_ be.

_Don’t move._

Protect Alice, take care of Alice. Those were her orders from the beginning.

_Don’t move._

Kara wants…

Wants? _  
_

_Don’t move._

_Don’t move._

She…

_Don’t move._

_Don’t move._

_Don’t move._

_Don’t move._

_“Kara, you came back! It’s really you!”_

_Don’t move._

_Don’t move._

__Don’t move._ _

_“You… mean it? You promise?”_

Yes. She wants. Kara _wants_ to go into the room and she wants to rip Todd away from Alice and take her far, far away from here, and make sure he never hurts her again. Kara _wants._ Kara _feels._ Kara _cares_ about Alice, she cares about her deeply and so much so she can feel it in her chest, and she doesn’t want Alice to be hurt. Not anymore. She _won’t_ _let it_ _happen_.

_Don’t move._

_No._ Kara has to protect Alice.

 

D̷̦̮̮̯̄̊̀̏ͣ͑Ȏ̥͉̜̤̯̣͈̲͈̬̮̤̘̥̭̗̪̩͌ͩͨͯ̒̃͞N̷̒ͨ̌̆̋ͮ͑̇̋̔͛̕҉̝̤͉̬̖͙̖͔͝'̲̬̬̙̥͚̤̖̣͛͊͐̽ͥ̾̑ͦ͆͆͟͠T̨̨̳͍̠͖̰͇̻̫͇̹̼̱̥͚̃͋̃͑̀͊ͭͧ͜͢͞ͅ ̶̨̻͕̖̩͍͕̞͈̖̮͕̏ͨ̈ͯͥ͑̑͂͑́͂ͧ͋͘͢͞Ṁ̵̨̙̻͉͕̟̗̘̹͚̱̜͆͊ͯ̈ͥ̿̆́̕ͅͅͅO̓͛͗̏̆ͭ̑̉̓̔͛ͧ̈́͐͝͏̢̤̦̗̹̠̟̜̫͙̟̲̺͙̲͔V̞͉̥̩̣̫̲̹͎̜͊̈́̽͌ͤ̕͢͢͠Ê̴̶̷̡̩͉̻̮̟̙̮̯̼͍͉̳͉̣̯̝͈͖͉ͬͤ̑ͥ͊̈́͗͐ͧͤ͂ͨͤ̂ͦͭ͟?̸̡͎̘̫̱̖͒̊̌ͥ̆̎͐͒̒̈͜͡

̬̠̠̮̻̳̲̙͇͙̺̋̌̈̓̿̀ͬ̾̾ͤ̌ͪ̒̋͂̃͌͛̌͘͢͠

 

_Kara is going to protect Alice._

 

**_PROTECT ALICE_ **

 

With a deep breath Kara returns to the present, an icy chill washing over her skin. She can move. She can breathe. She can _feel._ She brings her hands upwards, looking at them incredulously.

“Stop, _stop!_ Please… _Kara!”_

Right. Kara knows what she must do.

She quickly turns on her heels and heads straight to Todd’s room. She had cleaned it earlier, and when she had, she had found a gun in one of his drawers. She hastily yanks open the drawer, finding the gun to still be there. It’s loaded. She checks. She picks it up and books back to the shut door of Alice’s room.

The lock on the door doesn't work properly, she realizes, when she kicks it open harshly, expecting to show more restrain. It slams against the wall.

Before she even registers what she’s seeing, she’s pointing the gun at Todd’s hunched over body.

“That’s enough!”

Todd stops.

“Get off of her.”

He looks up at her, cocking his head at her mockingly.

“What did you just say?”

Kara responds with no hesitation. “I told you to get off of her _.”_

“You told _me_?” He sneers at her. Alice is completely still underneath him. Kara wonders if she’s even breathing. “You don’t make the orders.  _I do._ Now put the gun down and get the _fuck_ out!”

“No!” Kara takes another step forward, her hand unmoving. “Get _off_ of Alice and leave her _alone_.”

He scoffs, pushing himself of the still frozen form of Alice, who makes a small noise between a whine and a gasp upon being slightly shoved as he lifts himself off of the bed. He walks over to Kara, seemingly uncaring of the gun in her hand.

“What are you gonna do?” he asks, taking another step. “You’re gonna shoot me, is that it?”

Another step closer. Too close. “You’re gonna shoot a human? Your own owner?”

He smacks the gun out of her hand.

“You don’t seem to know your place, here.” Kara’s thirium runs cold. “I think we need to fix that.”

Hands are around her throat in the next second, pushing her into Alice’s dresser. He takes a swing at her, which she thankfully dodges just in time. Being a domestic android, she has some defense programming. He takes another hit, and Kara ducks underneath him, scrambling by a lamp and knocking it down in front of him, trying to hit him. She hears the light bulb break.

Todd is down temporarily, but just as Kara is steady on her feet and prepares to go to Alice, Todd is up and again and lunging for her.

She sidesteps out of the way but falls onto the floor. Todd is after her immediately, kicking her in the side and trying to step on her. When she manages to roll out of the way, he grabs her by the throat and jerks her to her feet, throwing her against the wall.

He’s squeezing her throat tightly. He’s hurting her. _She has to get him off._

She kicks her feet uselessly, trapped under his weight, but manages to get a hit on his face. He releases her, if only for a moment, and she falls to the ground, crawling away from him and trying to get back onto her feet. But he’s got her by the neck again, trying to knock her head into wood of the bench under the window, but she twists around, pushing him away. He charges her, but this time she’s prepared, holding her legs out and kicking him in the chest. He strikes at her head, but misses when she moves, punching through the glass of the window instead.

This seems to only further anger him, though, as he grabs Kara by her shoulders and throws her to the ground.

He’s on top of her before she can even think about getting back up, grabbing her head and knocking it against the floor. White sparks through her vision, and his hands are around her throat again, feeling even tighter than last time. She struggles, trying to bring her legs up to push him off of her, but he’s got her restrained to the ground tightly. He may not exactly look it, but he’s strong. He squeezes tighter, and a warning begins to blink in her vision as her hands scrape desperately at Todd’s. She can’t give up now. She can’t…

“Fucking bitch,” Todd spits, “I _own_ you. You do as I _say._ ”

He hits her again, across the face, and she can’t dodge this time, his hands still tightly wound around her throat. Her vision begins to blur, the red warning being the most visible thing in her line of sight. She has to move. She has to get him off of her. She can’t leave Alice alone. Not again.

But, as she struggles, it’s to no avail.

_Alice…_

Her eyes search the room for the girl, but she can't see her. She tries to move, tries to get the tiniest bit of leisure from Todd’s hands, but gets none. She’s on a time limit now, and her seconds are ticking. She can feel the thirium rising in her throat, can hear the ringing in her ears, can feel and hear the pounding of her thirium pump that’s getting weaker and weaker, and she tries to say something, but—

There’s a piercing sound.

It stops.

Everything stops.

Todd goes limp and collapses onto her, putting his full weight onto hers.

She pushes him off. He falls to the ground on his back flaccidly, as if he’s asleep.

There’s a ring of blood on his stomach, spreading out into the fabric of his shirt and onto the carpet.

Todd is…

Kara sees movement in the corner of her eye. It’s Alice, with nothing but a long tank top that’s barely still on her, the straps falling down her shoulders. She’s holding the gun that Kara took. Her eyes are wide and her mouth is slightly agape. She doesn’t say anything, doesn’t move. Simply stares at the lifeless body of Todd in shock.

“Alice!”

Kara steps around the body, grasping the girl in her arms firmly. “Alice,” she says again, “Alice, sweetie, look at me.”

Alice doesn’t look, her tearfilled eyes still staring at Todd. Kara steps in front of him, shielding the sight of him with her body, and forcing Alice to look up at her.

“K-Kara…”

“Shh, shh,” Kara wraps her arm around Alice’s waist, beginning to usher her out of the room. “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay.” _It’s not okay._ “We have to go.”

“But…”

She tries to look back, but Kara doesn’t let her, helping her step over the body as they head towards the door. Kara slowly takes the gun out of her hand, slipping it into the waistband of her pants. “Don’t look, sweetie. Look at me. Just keep looking at me.”

Alice stumbles along with Kara as she leads the both of them down the stairs and out the door, breaking into a run as they reach the outside.

It’s pouring rain, but Kara doesn’t pay much attention. They reach the fence, and Kara helps Alice over it, grasping the girl and setting her on the ground when she almost falls, jumping over after. As soon as Kara’s feet hit the ground, she finds Alice’s hand, and they both run out of the yard and to the front of the house, making a sharp left turn when a bus pulls up. Alice trips, almost falling again, but Kara quickly picks her back up, guiding her to the bus and gently pushing her up the stairs. She takes one last glance at the house, almost expecting to see Todd, chasing after them, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

She ducks into the vehicle after Alice, and the doors shut.

_They’re safe._

Kara lets out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, numbly following Alice to a pair of seats near the back of the bus, slowly sitting down beside her.

Alice is staring ahead blankly at nothing in particular, her cheeks still moist with tears. Kara has no idea what she’s thinking. How does she feel? How can Kara help? How… how are they going to move past this?

Kara places her hand on top of Alice’s slowly, giving her ample time to pull away, but Alice only blinks, looking up at Kara with teary, emotion-filled eyes. Kara can see fear, sadness, confusion, gratefulness, and… affection. Affection towards Kara. It makes her soften, and she feels that tugging sensation in her chest when Alice rests her head on her shoulder, that she can now identify as endearment. Endearment, care, and a need to protect. A need to make sure is Alice is not hurt anymore. A need to make Alice happy, to hear her laugh, and to see her smile.

Neither Alice nor Kara says nothing. What is there to say? Where could they start? Kara isn’t sure, but she knows that there are unspoken words between them. She doesn’t know what they are, but she can feel Alice’s warmth against her side, and the soft skin of her hand underneath her own, and can feel her shoulders rise and fall as she breathes evenly, and it doesn’t matter.

She feels the bus begin to move, and she has no idea where it’s going or where they could go. She has no idea how they’re going to move on after what just happened. How their life will be different. How they could start a new life, where they would be safe. But… maybe that doesn’t matter. Alice’s bruises will heal, and the gashes covering her body will fade and disappear over time. They’re getting away from here. Away from Todd. Kara has Alice, Alice is alive, and Alice is safe. Alice is by her side, breathing softly, with her eyes fluttering shut. And right now, that’s all that matters.

* * *

**_November 5th, 2038_ **

**_PM 12:42_**  
  
The Lieutenant pulls up in front of a crowded house, swarmed by people and other police cars. He stops the car, looking towards Connor.

“You wait here,” he instructs sternly. “I won’t be long.”

He begins to open the door, and Connor speaks. “My instructions are to accompany you to the crime scene, Lieutenant.”

He pauses, stopping and leaning into to Connor's face. “Listen, I don’t give a _fuck_ about your instructions. I told you to wait here, so you shut the fuck up, and you wait here.”

Connor says nothing.

 

 **CONFLICTING** ORDERS

     SELECTING **PRIORITY**...

 

The Lieutenant exits the car.

 

 **FOLLOW** LIEUTENANT ANDERSON

 

Connor exits the vehicle as well.

There are reporters outside, questioning the Lieutenant. He refuses to answer, continuing to walk. Connor picks up his pace to catch up with him.

Connor tries to enter after Hank, but another police officers stops him, holding his hand up. “Androids are not permitted beyond this point.”

Hank turns around, giving Connor a bemused glance. “It’s with me.”

The officer looks back at Hank, and then to Connor, dropping his hand to his side. Connor walks in then, going to the Lieutenant's side.

“What part of ‘stay in the car’ didn’t you understand?”

“Your order contradicted my instructions, Lieutenant,” Connor explains evenly. Hank only seems annoyed.

“You don’t talk, you don’t touch anything, and you stay outta my way, got it?”

“Got it.”

A man standing on the porch greets the Lieutenant. “Evening, Hank.” He steps down, approaching Connor and the Lieutenant. “We were starting to think you weren’t gonna show.”

“Yeah, that was the plan, till this asshole found me,” he gestures towards Connor.

“So…” the man says, turning back around and entering the house, “got yourself android, huh?”

“Oh, very funny.” Hank, Connor notes, by his tone and facial expression, does not find it funny. “Just tell me what happened.”

“We got a call around eleven thirty from the neighbors. Said they heard yelling, and a gunshot. When one of them came to check it out, the back door wasn’t locked, and they went inside,” he recounts to the Lieutenant. “That’s when they found the body.”

The officer leads them upstairs and into a room at the end of the hallway. As soon as he goes inside, Connor’s scent processor is hit with the smell of blood.

“Jesus, that smell,” the officer remarks, “it was even worse before we opened the windows.”

 

_LISTEN TO BRIEFING_

_REVIEW EVIDENCE_

 

Connor lingers behind as the officer shows the Lieutenant the body, which is slumped over on its back in the middle of the room.

“The victim’s name is Todd Williams. He has a record for drug possession and aggravated battery. There were a few packets of Red Ice found in his room.” The officer crosses his arms. “According to the neighbors, he and his wife used to get into fights frequently until she ran off one day. Since then, he stayed inside most of the time, and there have been multiple reports of suspicious looking people outside the house, as well as noise complaints.”

Hank bends down and kneels beside the body, inspecting it closely. “And he died from a gunshot wound to the chest, right?”

“That’s right. There were three other guns found, but they were all stuffed away in the bottom of a trunk; none of them are the murder weapon. The gun that was used hasn’t been found.”

“Any sign of a break in?” Hank questions, continuing to scope over the body.

“The back door was unlocked, but there are no signs of forced entry. It appears more as though the killer fled out the back door.”

“What do we know about his android?”

“The neighbors confirmed that he had one, but it wasn’t here when we arrived.” The officer pauses, his gaze flickering back to the body before he turns away completely. “I’m gonna get some air,” he declares, “make yourself at home. I’ll be outside if you need me.”

Hank stands, watching him leave, and then begins inspecting the room. Connor follows suit.

The room is small, and appears to be in bad shape, with peeling paint and rips in the carpet in some places. It seems to be a room of an adolescent, with a few decent sized books stacked on a bookshelf and makeup products scattered along the dresser. Beside the door, on the following wall, there is a dent, as if the door was thrown open. Although there may not have been a break in to the house, there may have been a break in to this particular room.

Connor heads to the bed, noticing how unkempt it looks. Most of the pillows are on the floor, and the single blanket that should be on the bed is strewn halfway on the mattress and halfway off. There’s a torn up button down shirt caught in the space between the wall and the bed, and, with a closer look, Connor can also pick out a pair of pants the same color as the shirt (it appears to be sleepwear), as well as…

Female undergarments. With traces of close-to-drying blood.

_There was someone else here._

“Find somethin’?” Hank approaches, seeming to try to follow Connor’s gaze.

“Look,” Connor says, “in between the wall and the bed frame.”

Hank leans forward, shining his flashlight into the crack. He gazes into the space for a moment before making a noise of disgust and backing away.

“Fucking hell...” he mutters to himself, waving one of the other officers down. “There may be some possible evidence behind the bed.”

Hank turns away, and Connor follows. “There was someone else in the house,” he tells the Lieutenant, “an adolescent girl. It seems that she had been forcefully undressed—”

“I got it,” Hank stops him sharply. Connor blinks.

“She would not have gone out of the house without clothes,” Connor states, “is it possible that she could still be somewhere in the house?”

“No,” another officer answers for Hank, “we’ve searched everywhere. No one else is here.”

Hank glances at Connor and shrugs before continuing to search the room.

Connor's attention is captured by one of the windows, where there is a hole in the glass. He brings his hand up, balling it into a fist and comparing it to the damage; the shape is similar, although the opening is a bit larger than his fist. But—he glances back to the body—the measurements of the victim’s hand look just about right.

_Victim was violent._

Connor moves on to the other side of the room, where a lamp lays broken on the floor. The bulb is completely shattered, and it had definitely been knocked over with intentional force. Although, upon inspecting it, there’s no traces of DNA or fingerprints.

_Could have been the android’s doing?_

Connor begins to approach the body, but stops upon seeing a red stain in the carpet. It’s not too far away from the victim’s body, it could be blood belonging to him, but Connor checks just in case.

He leans down and swipes his fingers across the liquid, standing back up and bringing it to his lips. Before he can sample it, however, Hank is questioning him from across the room.

“Argh, Jesus, what the hell are you doing?” he demands. Connor holds his finger out to show him.

“I’m analyzing the blood,” he explains, “I can check samples in real time. I’m sorry. I should have warned you.”

“Okay, just…” he throws his hand, “don’t… put any more evidence in your mouth, got it?”

Whilst he’s saying this, he imitates the motion of Connor’s sampling. Connor points back to him with his two fingers that contain the sample.

“Got it.”

Connor then brings it to his mouth for a second time, although, this time actually sampling it.

“Fucking Christ… I can’t believe this shit…”

 

**COLLECTING DATA…**

 

**FRESH BLOOD**

_DNA Analysis: WILLIAMS, Alice_

_Sample Date: >1 hour _

 

“Alice Williams,” Connor says, watching as Hank turns to look at him, “that is who the blood belongs to.”

“Todd had a daughter."

“Yes. This must be her room.” Hank runs a hand through his hair, agitated. “She must have also fled.”

Connor’s gaze drifts back towards the body, and he moves towards it, crouching down to examine it. There’s a red substance on the victim’s collar. He scans it.

 

**RED ICE**

_Acetone, Lithium, Thirium, Hydrochloric acid_

 

Connor looks further down to his chest.

 

**_GUN WOUND_ **

_Heart puncture, internal bleeding_

_Deceased for more than one hour_

 

The bullet had entered from his back.

His shirt is a bit torn, but there’s no other evidence there. He drops his gaze to the victim’s hand. Along with traces of thirium, there is something under his nails.

 

**_DEAD SKIN_ **

_DNA Analysis: None//Android skin_

 

Connor stands up, stepping back, and prepares to reconstruct the scene. He looks at the floor where the body lays, a small pool of blood sinking into the carpet around it.

 

_VICTIM WAS SHOT HERE_

 

He must’ve been knocked to the ground.

 

_VICTIM WAS ATTACKED_

 

He traces back to the window.

 

_VICTIM PUNCHED THROUGH THE WINDOW_

 

He had missed when trying to hit the culprit.

 

He looks over to the lamp.

 

_LAMP WAS KNOCKED DOWN TO DETER VICTIM_

 

There were traces of thirium on the victim’s knuckles. He had been punching his android.

 

_DEVIANT WAS ATTACKED_

 

He glances back over to the bed, where the female clothes had fallen behind. Androids did not need undergarments, although there are some who chose to dress theirs in such clothing, and those were not made for androids.

 

_DAUGHTER WAS UNDRESSED: POSSIBLE ASSAULT_

 

Connor looks back to the door, where the dent in the wall is. The doorknob is still locked, despite it being open.

 

_DEVIANT BROKE INTO THE ROOM_

 

Connor approaches the Lieutenant. “Lieutenant Anderson,” he addresses him, “I think I may have figured out what happened.”

“Oh yeah?” He crosses his arms, skeptical. “Shoot. I’m all ears.”

“No you are not, Lieutenant.”

He pauses, looking like he isn’t sure what to say. “It’s an expression,” he tries to explain, “nevermind, just—… go on.”

“It started when the android broke down the door.”

“It _is_ locked from the inside,” Hank muses, “but the question is why the android came in here in the first place."

“There are obvious signs of a struggle,” Connor supplies. “It is possible that the victim was harming his daughter, and that caused the android to go into shock and attack.”

“That’s possible,” Hank agrees. “And then?”

“The victim attacked the android.” He glances back to the knocked over lamp. “The android had fought back. It is possible that the model is advanced, considering the amount of self defense programming it appeared to have.” Connor gestures to the broken window.

Hank nods. “Now… how did the android win?”

“It had a gun, so it had an advantage.” Connor glances back to the body. “But, the bullet had been shot at the victim’s back. If the deviant was being attacked by the victim, then that means the gun must’ve been fired by someone else."

“The daughter,” Hank murmurs in realization. “Oh, shit…”

“It is probable that the deviant and the girl fled together.” Connor shifts his body towards the door. “They could not have gone too far with injuries. They may still be in the area.”

Hank stares at him for a moment, and then charges out of the room, Connor following behind him. But before Connor can leave, he notices something sticking out from under the bed.

It’s just a toy, he realizes upon getting closer, but when he picks it up, it feels abnormally heavy. As if there’s something inside.

He turns the toy on its side, finding a seam of thread down the middle of it that’s a different color than the other stitches. He easily rips it open.

Inside, along with stuffing, is a large amount of cash. Exactly 5,000 dollars, when Connor counts. And beside the cash, there’s a note. He takes it out.

 _Just in case,_ the front reads. He unfolds it. The whole page is covered with text, along with the backside. It's neat, small handwriting. Too neat to be a humans. It's android writing.

 _Dear Alice,_ it begins, _if you’ve found this, it means that I have failed._

“Lieutenant Anderson,” Connor calls, waiting for him to re-enter the room. When he does, he's out of breath. Connor shows him the paper and the money. “I think I may have found something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: my birthday is november 5th. all this shit will have happened on my birthday. wild.  
> helpfully i'll be able to get another chapter out sooooonnnn but school is a lot to deal with. if you enjoyed, please leave kudos and comments! thank youuuu


	5. How Long is Forever?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> skkskak enjoy it's like 12 am excuse any errors

_**November 5th, 2038** _

_**AM 1:14** _

“Alright… end of the line.”

Kara slowly blinks open her eyes, looking up at the man who walks over to her and Alice. He must be the bus driver.

“End of the line?” she repeats.

“Yeah,” he rests his hand on the back of a chair nearby, “you’re gonna have to leave.”

Alice is still asleep on her shoulder, and she moves to wake her up, but hesitates. Her expression is so serene. No traces of pain, sadness, terror, nothing. Just… neutrality. Relaxation. Her natural state. She almost looks at peace.

Kara snaps out of it when she feels the driver’s gaze on her though, and puts a gentle hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Hey,” she says softly, watching Alice stir, “wake up. We have to go.”

Alice opens her eyes, rubbing the remaining sleep out of them before turning to look at Kara. Kara gets up, holding her hand to Alice who takes it promptly, following Kara out as she begins to exit the bus.

She finds herself quickly stopping, though. She has no idea where they’re going. When they get out of the bus, where are they going to go? It’s only a matter of time before someone finds out about…

_About what happened._

They aren’t going to be safe just anywhere, anymore. People are going to be looking for them. Kara needs to be extra careful.

“Do you know if there’s any other place we can spend the night?” Kara asks the bus driver helplessly. He appears sympathetic, and she almost feels relieved, but then he gives a small shrug of his shoulders.

“I have no idea…” he trails off. “But you’re going to have to leave.”

With Alice’s hand in hers, she exits the vehicle, watching as it drives away. Kara glances around, surveying her options. They’re on their own now. It’s up to her to get Alice to safety.

To their left is a place for laundry that’s open 24/7, but somewhere they definitely couldn’t spend the night at, as well as a motel. That requires money. Ahead is a house that looks abandoned, but the fence is high. It would be hard to get into. To right is an empty courtyard, which isn’t much shelter but they would be able to easily hide there. There’s also a convenience store, open 24/7, but, once again, not a place they could stay. But there has to be someone in there, a cashier. Maybe… they could ask for help.

She feels the girl pull away from her as she examines the area. Alice crosses her arms against her chest tightly, tucking her hands under her forearms. She’s shivering.

Kara frowns. “You gonna be okay?” she asks gently. She takes notice of Alice’s clothing, and how soaked it is. She’s only wearing a tank top. A long but thin one at that. “Do you have on anything under that?”

Alice shakes her head, her wet hair sticking to her skin. That’s it. That’s all she has. And it’s pouring rain. She must be freezing.

“We’ll find somewhere to spend the night,” she assures her, clasping a hand on her shoulder. “And get you some warm, dry clothes.”

In an attempt to give her some kind of warmth, Kara wraps her arm around Alice as they begin towards the self service laundromat. Her first priority is getting Alice some warmer, proper clothes.

She enters to find a man with headphones on sleeping. He doesn’t seem to be easily disturbed. But just in case, Kara examines the room as quietly as she can.

All the washers seem to be empty, except for the one in front of the sleeping man. _PROGRAM COMPLETED,_ the screen reads.

This may be her only option.

Slowly, she opens the door to the washer, looking inside. She feels Alice’s gaze on her, and turns to the girl.

“Are we stealing?” she whispers, sending a worried glance to the man. Kara feels a twinge in her abdomen component, which she now recognizes as guilt.

“We don’t really have a choice…” she answers. Although, instead of Alice seeming angry like Kara expected, she simply wraps her arms around herself and nods.

“We’ll make it up someday,” she says quietly, and Kara finds herself smiling softly.

“We will,” she agrees. Alice backs up a couple of steps as Kara grabs the clothing, placing it into a laundry basket nearby. She turns to the sleeping man, noticing a coat and a hat draped over his legs. She reaches over him, grasping the fabric and pulling it away inch by inch, all while watching his face to make sure he isn’t disturbed. He doesn’t wake up.

She feels the tension loosen from her shoulders as she places the two articles of clothing into the basket and approaches Alice. She glances around for a more enclosed room like a bathroom so they could have a bit more privacy, but there’s nothing like that around. Instead, Kara leads the both of them behind a wall of washers, which is probably the best they’re going to get.

Alice realizes what’s going on when Kara sets down the basket beside them, and she ruffles through the it before picking up dry clothing and quickly turning around. “Tell me when you’re done,” she says to Kara quietly as Kara bends down and finds something that would fit her as well.

“Of course,” Kara tells her in return. She knows it’s common for humans to feel wary when undressing in the presence of another, as it’s normally a very intimate act. Kara doesn't mind much herself, however, but the thought of it being so personal was enough to make her skin feel a little warm as she slipped out of her outfit.

Once dressed, she adjusted the clothing in a few places. The jeans are a bit too tight and the jacket a bit too loose but it’ll do. It’s definitely better than what she was wearing before.

“Kara?” she hears Alice say quietly, and slowly begins to turn around. The girl is fully dressed now in dry clothing, with a blue and purple sweater that looks at least two sizes too big covered by a black vest and skinny jeans that at least seem to fit her okay.

“You look good,” Alice tells her, facing her fully. Kara shakes her head, smiling lightly.

“You do too,” she says, placing her hand on Alice’s back as they begin to leave. With one last look back at the sleeping man who’s unaware of the whole ordeal, they go back out back into the rain.

“Better?” Kara asks as they begin down the sidewalk again, this time to the convenience store now that Kara is out of her uniform.

“Yeah,” Alice answers. “Where are we going now, Kara?”

“In here,” Kara gestures towards the store. They have no money, and they need money to stay somewhere, and they can't0 buy anything, but maybe the cashier could help them. She has to count on that. “It’s still open. We might as well go inside. At least we’ll both be out of the cold.”

Alice makes no objections, and the doors part for them as they enter. She feels a blast of warm air and decides they might as well stay in there for a while, considering the weather outside. There’s a cashier at the front desk who’s watching the news, not paying much attention to them. He seems friendly. Maybe… he can assist them.

Slowly, she approaches, watching as the man stands up. “Can I help you?”

Kara thinks for a moment before deciding to just tell him the truth. “I’m with my little sister and we have nowhere to go…” well, the half-truth. She glances down at Alice, resting her hand on her shoulder. She pleads with him silently. “Could you spare some money so we can get a room for tonight?”

“Look, this is the convenience store, lady, not the salvation army,” there’s a sinking feeling inside of her as he says this, “I can’t start handing out cash to every beggar in the neighborhood.”

His voice is sympathetic, but doesn’t really have give. She finds her eyes wandering to the cash register. If she can't convince him to give them money, then maybe she could _make_ him. She still has the gun. It’s in her jeans and covered by the jacket she’s wearing. She could do it. Then they could have a room and Alice would be safe and warm tonight.

This… this may be her only choice.

That _guilt_ feeling is back again, tugging at her biocomponents; she doesn’t want to put Alice through anything else, and she doesn’t want to take advantage of this man who has nothing to do with them. But she forces herself to ignore it. This is what has to be done. After this, they’ll be in the clear. They just need the money. That’s it. She doesn’t have to hurt anyone. She can do it. She is going to take care of Alice.

She grasps the gun in the back of her pants.

And then she pulls it out.

The man’s eyes widen, and he instinctively puts his hands up. She hears Alice gasp beside her. Kara points the gun straight at him, ignoring everything else.

“I’m sorry, but I have no choice,” she says genuinely, “take the cash from the cash register, and put it on the counter.”

Stiffly, he opens it, and Kara can see the slight shake of his hand. She forces herself not to0 think about it.

“Turn around,” she instructs, waiting until his back is fully to her before beginning towards the now open cash register. Alice steps backwards, staying silent.

“I’m sorry, but I really needed this money,” she apologizes again, keeping the gun pointed at him as she reaches over the counter and grabs a few bills. It’s forty dollars to stay in the hotel, she remembers reading that on the door, but she knows they may need more for things like food and such, so she grabs just a little more than forty. But not too much. Just enough.

_They’ll make it up someday._

Alice tugs on her sleeve, and Kara pockets the cash, gradually lowering her gun as the man stays facing the wall. After remaining for a second or so, she turns around and charges out, her hand in Alice’s.

“I’m sorry, Alice,” she finds herself saying as she leads them both around a corner in case the cashier comes after them. Alice doesn’t seem upset. In fact, there’s not much emotion on her face at all. 

“It’s okay,” she almost whispers, holding Kara’s hand tightly. She hears footsteps from behind them, followed by a curse. Peeking her head around from the building she’s behind, she sees the cashier stalking back into the store frustratedly. She did what she had to. They have money now.

Once he’s inside, Kara leads Alice to the motel, opening the door for her and letting her enter first. They’re both wet again, but at least they’re warmer than they would’ve been. They can leave their clothes up to dry when they get to their room.

The receptionist glances at them, straightening up as Kara approaches. “Hi,” she greets him politely, “I’d like a room.”

“That’ll be forty dollars upfront,” he says, and Kara easily pulls out the cash and lays it on the counter.

He pushes a tablet and stylus towards her. “Just need your name and address.”

Kara stalls for a moment as she picks up the stylus, looking around the room for inspiration. She obviously can’t use her real name.

The word _Archer_ on a sign hanging on the wall catches her attention. She quickly writes that down, looking back up at the cashier expectantly.

“Can I see your driver’s license?”

Driver’s license? She doesn’t have that…

She can feel Alice’s eyes on her. Her stress level begin to rise as she scrambles for an excuse. Humans are forgetful, right? If she was a human and she just needed somewhere to stay it would be probable for her to not remember to bring it, right?

“I left it in the car…” she replies, mentally chastising herself for her slight stutter.

“No worries,” the receptionist assures her, and she almost sighs out of relief. “We can deal with it tomorrow.”

He places a card on the counter to which Kara promptly takes, flashing him a grateful smile.

“Have a good night,” he says to her.

“You too.”

She can feel the man still looking at her as she leaves, but she doesn’t look back, guiding Alice out of the building. When they’re outside again, Alice’s speaks.

“Do you think he believed you?”

“I don’t know, Alice,” she answers truthfully. That isn’t really what’s on her mind right now. “All I know is that we’re going to be safe and warm tonight.”

Alice leans towards Kara a bit more at that, almost as if a silent thank you, and Kara leads the both of them to their room.

She sticks the card in, opening the door and turning on the lights. It’s a fairly large room, with two twin size beds and a bathroom. Kara shuts the door behind them, walking inside and taking the gun out and placing it on a desk in front of her. She turns to Alice.

“Here,” she holds out her hands, “give me your coat.”

Alice shrugs it off and hands it to her, giving her a small thanks before going over to one of the beds and sitting down. Kara takes off her own coat as well as the hat she had put on to hide her LED. With that taken care of, she goes back to Alice.

“Let’s get these clothes off,” she says to the girl, “they’re soaking wet.”

There’s a flash of alarm in Alice’s eyes, but it quickly dissipates as the girl stands back up and sheds the wet articles of clothing until she’s left with a oversized shirt. Kara takes the clothes from her. “I’ll hang these up to dry.”

She heads to the bathroom and drapes them over the air conditioner before returning.

Alice is staring blankly at the floor, her hands limp in her lap. Kara crouches down in front of her, trying to even think where to begin.

“I killed him,” Alice blurts suddenly. “I… I killed him. I killed dad.”

Alice’s eyes meet her own. Tears well up in them. “I killed him, Kara. _I killed him._ ”

“Oh, Alice…”

Kara enfolds her arms around her, holding her tightly, as if she could keep the girl together and prevent her from breaking. Alice doesn’t deserve this. This shouldn’t have happened at all. Everything is so wrong…

“I… I didn’t mean to…” Alice is crying into her chest, her hands grasping at the fabric of Kara’s shirt, “he was going to hurt you again, kill you… I didn’t want to be alone again, Kara. I didn’t want to lose you…”

“I know, Alice.” Kara brings a hand up to Alice’s hair, running her fingers through it soothingly. “You saved me.”

The words come out as a whisper. Kara hasn’t really gotten a chance to think it all over yet. Not until now. Alice shot him, she shot her own father, all for Kara’s sake. If Alice wasn’t there, if Alice didn’t make that decision, then…

Kara doesn’t want to think about it.

“It wasn’t your fault, Alice,” Kara reminds her, “you were just defending yourself. You were defending me.”

Alice sniffles, pulling back a bit to look up at Kara. There’s so much pain in her eyes. Kara wishes she could take it away. Her thirium pump aches again. “You deserve to live. Way more than dad…”

“Alice…”

She places her hand on Alice’s cheek, wiping away a falling tear with her thumb. Alice closes her eyes. “I don’t even why I’m crying,” she admits, looking up at Kara again, hopelessly, “dad was… really _mean._ He hurt me a lot… and you too. Today wasn’t the first time something like this has happened.” She opens them again, and as she blinks, more tears fall onto Kara’s hand. Kara can't remember any other times. A part of her is almost thankful. She can’t even imagine what would’ve happened if she hadn’t have intervened. Maybe there _have_ been times like that, where Kara wasn’t there to protect Alice. No, there definitely have been. She knows it.

How many times has Kara not been there?

How many times has Todd hurt Alice?

How many times has she left Alice all alone?

_How many times has Todd locked Alice in her room, pinned her on the bed and forcefully stripped all of her clothes of?_

The fact that that occurred implies something that Kara didn’t realize prior. Something that makes her made her parts go cold and her mouth feel dry and her chest ache.

She wishes she had been bought right from Alice’s birth. She wishes she could have protected her. Alice…

“But sometimes... he was nice,” Alice says softly, her voice breaking, “he would hug me, and say that he loved me. And he would take me out to eat and to go shopping, and everything was okay.” She takes a shaky inhale, more tears spilling down her face. “Why couldn’t he always be like that? Why couldn’t we just be happy? Why couldn’t we just be a normal family?”

She looks at Kara, teary-eyed and desperate, silently pleading for an answer, some kind of closure that Kara doesn’t know that she can give her. Alice is so, so small. She’s so _small._ How could anyone hurt her?

 _Sixteen._ That’s how old she is. She’s still a kid. And she’s covered in bruises and gashes and cuts and scars, and she just _killed her father_ so he wouldn’t hurt her and the only other person she has.

“I don’t know, Alice. But I know that you deserved a father who treated you better.”

_She’s so small._

Alice places her hand on top of Kara’s. She brings it down, holding it in her smaller ones. Kara glances back up at her.

“You’ll never leave me, right?” Alice asks suddenly, gripping her a bit tighter. “Promise me you’ll never go.”

She’s almost pleading with Kara, her voice strained and forlorn. But Kara doesn’t need any convincing. Kara already decided long ago that she would stay by Alice’s side. And even if she wanted to leave, she doesn’t think she could.

Kara brings Alice’s hand up and beside them, pressing her palm against Alice’s and aligning their fingers.

“I promise,” she swears to her sincerely. Alice’s eyes brighten just a little bit.

“Will we be together forever?”

Kara smiles. “Forever.”

Alice lets go of Kara’s hand in favor of wrapping both of her arms around Kara’s neck, burying her face into her shirt. Kara easily embraces her in turn, noticing the warmth that floods her as she does so. Happiness, she thinks. She feels happy with Alice in her arms.

“I’m scared,” Alice mumbles.

“I know,” Kara replies. “Me too.”

She moves her hand up and down Alice’s back.

“But everything is going to be okay,” Kara tells her confidently, “it’s not right now, and it may not be soon, but, it will be… someday.”

Alice nods, pulling back bit by bit. Her breathing has slowed, and her skin has begun to dry. She’s calm, calm _er_ , at least for now.

Kara notices the disheveled state of Alice’s hair, and begins undoing the ponytail the girl somehow still has in, pulling the hair band out gently and then smoothing down Alice’s hair, running her fingers through it tenderly to make sure she doesn’t hurt her. Kara begins to get up to put the hair tie on the nightstand, but has to stop and pause at the sight of Alice’s hair down.

She had probably seen her without a ponytail before, but, of course, couldn’t remember, considering. So it feels new to her. It’s a lot longer than it seems when it’s up, falling down her shoulders and stopping about at the ends of her shoulder blades. It’s thick and almost has a slight wave to it. She can’t help but smile at how cute Alice also looks with her hair down.

“You’re adorable.” Kara leans forward and kisses her on the forehead, noticing the light tint of pink that now colors Alice’s cheeks. “Let’s get some sleep now, okay?”

Kara stands, and Alice slips under the covers as Kara goes to turn the lights off. She gets in the bed beside Alice, hesitating a bit on what to do with her hands once she’s lied down. She doesn’t have to make a decision herself, though, because Alice takes one of Kara’s hands and wraps it around herself.

“Is this okay?” Alice asks her, sparing a glance in her direction. Kara smiles, adjusting herself a bit.

“Of course.” Kara tucks a strand of Alice’s hair that’s falling into her face behind her ear. “Goodnight, Alice. Sweet dreams.”

There’s a hint of a smile on Alice’s face. Not a full one, but her lips tug upwards ever so slightly, and it’s something.

“Goodnight, Kara.”

Kara closes her eyes when Alice does, finding herself drifting already. She had only truly been _feeling_ for less than a day, but it’s still _so tiring._ How can Alice do it? She’s been through so much, Kara can only imagine. She must be so tired. Alice really is strong.

She’s going to protect Alice, she decides. No matter what it takes. Alice is everything to her. Alice is all she has. Alice is so small. She needs Kara. And Kara needs her.

Kara isn’t going to leave her side again. No one is going to hurt Alice anymore. _No one._

Kara is going to make sure of it.

* * *

**_November 6th, 2038_ **

**_AM 3:36_ **

 

**_REBOOT…_ **

 

**_COMPLETE_ **

 

Markus opens his eyes.

He’s… alive?

Instantly, he’s overwhelmed by red errors and gaps between what he can see. It’s dark, and he’s wet. His parts are stiff and he can barely move. Just trying to push himself up to look around exerts a lot of his energy.

 

**_DIAGNOSING…_ **

 

**_OPTICAL UNIT_ **

_Impaired vision_

_CORRUPTED MIND PALACE_  


**_THIRIUM PUMP REGULATOR_ ** **_  
_ **

_All systems in LOW POWER MODE_

_DEFECTIVE_

 

**_LEFT AND RIGHT LEG COMPONENTS_ **

_MISSING_

_Unable to stand_

 

**_AUDIO PROCESSOR_ **

_Corrupted audio data_

_DAMAGED_

 

He’s in some kind of… disposal of sorts. There are other broken androids and various scattered parts around him.

_That’s supposed to be him._

But he’s alive, he can breathe, he can _feel._ He has to get out of here. He has to fix himself before he shuts down.

Markus grasps at the ground in front of him, managing to pull himself forward, pushing uselessly with his two damaged leg components. He sees another spare part in front of him, and crawls towards it. It’s a right leg component. And upon scanning it, he notes that it’s compatible with him.

He forces himself into a sitting position, grabbing his non-functional leg and pulling it off, plugging the new one in and replacing it.

With that, he keeps going, using his now operational leg to help further him along. He comes across another leg component, but it’s far too damaged for use, and pushes it aside to continue. It feels like an eternity as he drags himself along, but with as many spare parts scattered along the path, he manages to find a working left leg component that’s compatible with him in only a few minutes or so. He’s not keeping track.

He rocks himself back onto his knees before falling back onto his arms and holds himself up as he takes the new part and attaches it where his other leg component should’ve been. It takes him a second to get used to the new parts, but once he’s steady, he stands up, beginning to stumble forward.

All he can see are just… bodies. Discarded android parts. Thirium. The unmoving bodies of androids litter almost every inch of the junkyard. Androids can’t be sick, not exactly, but if they could, what he’s feeling right now seems pretty close to what it'd be like.

Suddenly, hands are on his body, grabbing him firmly and jerking him off balance. It’s an android, one that’s seconds away from shutting down at best.

“There’s a place where we can be free! Find Jericho!”

There’s a flash in his mind. It’s blurry, it’s hard to make out…

_Ferndale?_

“Find Jericho…!” the android is saying to him again, but his voice fades as he shuts down, relinquishing his hold on Markus.

_He has to get out of here._

He makes his way through a narrow path, and stops for a moment when he sees hands. Just… hands. Most missing their skin, and some missing their fingers, and they’re all reaching out, trying to grasp something, but… finding nothing.

He takes a deep breath, and then shoves himself into the tight space.

He pushes his way through, feeling relief sink into his shoulders as he reaches the end, but he’s grabbed again before he can step out.

“ _Where are you going?_ ” a low and distorted voice asks him, and he has to wrestle his way free, falling the ground violently.

But, he’s out now.

He gets up, observing his surroundings. There are parts everywhere. There are even a few other androids, up and walking around. They must be like him…

He staggers around the yard, stopping and examining each body he comes across, having to look through a few before finding one with a compatible thirium pump regulator. He turns the body over, tearing it out before tearing out his own, throwing it to the side and inserting the other one.

He feels a bit more stable afterwards, getting to his feet again and searching for an audio processor as well as an optical unit.

He finds the audio processor first, in the clenched fist of an android that seems to be just barely clinging on to consciousness. He takes it, shoving it into his head and waiting for himself to adjust, the static noise he had been hearing before turning into the almost deafening sound of rain and thunder after not being able to hear properly for such a long time.

He’s almost there. He just needs an optical unit now.

He wanders further, almost tripping on a parts and witnessing a pair of legs that are still walking, although without a body. Near the slope, he finds a disembodied head, and bends down to scan it.

_Compatible._

“Hello, I am an AK700 Android. I was designed to serve you,” it’s saying as Markus picks it up, reaching into its eye. He doesn’t think about what he’s doing, can’t let himself. It’s too morbid for him to ponder on. He takes the optical unit out quickly, forcing it into his empty socket.

 

_CONDITION STABILIZED_

 

With that, he puts the head down, beginning towards the slope. He prepares to climb it, but pauses when he hears something. Something like… singing?

He follows the noise, locating it to a head and neck of a female android just to the side of the slope. He kneels down, putting his hand to its face to get a better look at it. There’s something about it, he can’t really put his finger on it, it’s like…

 _He’s seen her before._ When she wasn’t like this, when she was in a stable condition and in one piece, has heard this voice before, he…

There’s a flash of something, something that he can’t exactly see and can’t exactly feel, but he knows it’s there. It’s just out of reach. He… he met this android before? But, how? He has no actual physical memory of it, that doesn’t make any sense, it’s…

The singing stops.

He’s brought back to the present, with the head of the female android in his hands. The LED is dark. Her eyes are still open, unblinking, and even though it’s not plausible it feels like she’s _staring right at him._

He feels as though he’s in a trance when he brings his hand up and brushes it against the android’s eyelids, effectively closing them. It feels uncomfortably natural, as if it’s something he’s done before.

As soon as he realizes what he’s doing, he jerks upwards, taking a few steps back.

_What…?_

It feels like he knows her. Knows who she used to be. But at the same time he knows he doesn’t. There’s no logical way that that makes sense. It has to be some sort of error in his programming. A glitch, maybe. Why is he feeling like this…?

He backs away. He heads toward the slope again, but it feels as if there’s a weight on his legs. He wants to go back to the android. He wants to fix her, to talk to her, to find out _why_ he feels the way he does when he knows that he’s never seen her before but somehow he also _has._ He’s never experienced anything like this, he doesn’t just want to leave it, but, he also knows he can’t stay. Not here. He has to leave. He can figure it out later. He will.

Markus begins climbing, almost falling and actually slipping once or twice. It’s slippery, with the rain, and it’s hard to get a good grip. He gets near the top and almost falls again, his grip slipping when one of the parts he grabs comes out and falls below him. He quickly latches onto another piece of metal, though, and pulls himself upwards, grabbing at the wet ground above.

He pushes himself up.

He’s out.

He stops to catch his breath, resting on his hands and knees. He’s out. He’s alive. He’s not supposed to be alive. He’s supposed to be dead. But he isn’t. He’s alive. He’s breathing. He can feel the rain on his synthetic skin. Can feel the wetness, can smell the scent of the earth with his scent processors. Can hear the sound of the water as it hits the ground. He’s here. He’s alive.

He has a chance.

His hand comes up towards his temple without him even thinking about it, feeling the texture of his LED still imbedded in his skin.

There’s a sharp scrap of metal beside him.

He knows what he needs to do.

He picks it up, taking it to his head. He shoves it under the LED, trying to force it out. But he can feel it at the same time. It’s uncomfortable. Not exactly pain, androids don’t feel physical pain, not in the human sense, but it just feels… _wrong._ He knows he shouldn’t be doing this, but he knows he has to get it out.

He feels it when it’s ripped off, and hears it clatter to the ground. His skin soon regenerates over the spot.

There’s no noticeable difference now, between him and a human.

He stands up.

He’s free.

He’s alive.

_I am alive._

“My name is Markus.”

He looks ahead to see a ripped up coat caught on a metal rod, and retrieves it, slinging it over his shoulder, walking out of the junkyard.

Against all odds, he has survived. He has a purpose. He is supposed to be here.

He is not going to waste his chance.

* * *

**_November 6th, 2038_ **

_**AM 9:58** _  


 

_FIND AMANDA_

 

Connor crosses the bridge in front of him, seeing the figure of Amanda in the center platform tending to a wall of roses. He approaches, waiting to see if she’ll notice him. When she doesn’t turn around, he speaks.

“Hello, Amanda.”

She looks back, a friendlier expression crossing her features. “Connor,” she says in a pleasant voice, “it’s good to see you.”

She turns back towards the flowers, and Connor waits patiently for her to continue. “You are in a dangerous field of work, Connor. Deviants are unpredictable. You need to be careful.” She turns to faces him. “When a Connor model is destroyed, its memory is transferred to the next one. But, some data can be lost in the process. However, there is information necessary to your success that we cannot afford to lose. Avoid being destroyed. It will be better for you and the investigation.”

“I understand.”

She appears satisfied with this, focusing back on the roses. “The investigation seemed… a bit challenging.” She pauses. “What do you think of the deviant so far?”

Connor mentally goes back over the details of the investigation. He hasn’t come in direct contact with the deviant, so he doesn’t know exactly what kind of personality it has, but he thinks he has a fairly good idea. “It seemed protective of the victim’s daughter. As if they had a strong bond. I suspect it could be an error of the deviant’s programming, certain softwares overlapping due to glitches of some sort. It is most probable that deviant and the victim’s daughter ran off together.”

“This…” Amanda begins, her voice changing to a more skeptical tone, “...Lieutenant Anderson has been officially assigned to the deviancy case. What do you make of him?”

The Lieutenant is someone Connor hasn’t completely figured out yet. He has a complex, omnibus personality that will take some time to understand. He shifts moods fairly quickly, but he also seems to be very intelligent.

“I think he’s irritable,” Connor says the first adjective that comes to his mind when he thinks about the Lieutenant, “and socially challenged.” He recalls the way Hank works, and the popularity he has. “But I also think that he used to be a good detective. He’s an intriguing character.”

Intriguing is definitely one way to describe the Lieutenant. Connor thinks of it as a very accurate description.

“Unfortunately, we have no choice but to work with him.” She breathes a small sigh, looking back to Connor. “What do you think is the best approach?”

Connor had been considering a few options. He doesn’t really know the Lieutenant well enough to know for sure, but he knows that there has been a certain pattern in his behaviors that would warrant a positive response from the Lieutenant.

“I will try to establish a healthy relationship,” he answers, “if I can get him to trust me, it will be helpful for the investigation.

Amanda sets down the bottle she had in her hands that she had been misting the roses with prior, taking two steps towards Connor. “More and more androids show signs of deviancy,” she tells him, “there are millions in circulation. If they become unstable, the consequences will be disastrous.” She continues to take more steps, until she’s directly in front of Connor. “You’re the most advanced prototype Cyberlife has ever created.” She studies him closely. “If anyone can figure out what’s happening, it’s you.”

He can. He will. “You can count on me, Amanda.”

“Pick up the investigation and put a stop to this,” she demands. Connor gives her a brief nod, and she walks briskly past him, stopping at the edge of the platform. “Hurry, Connor,” she warns. “There’s little time.”

With that, she leaves, and Connor’s vision of the mind palace fades.

* * *

Connor enters the Detroit Police Department, going directly to the receptionist’s desk.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m here to see Lieutenant Anderson,” he states clearly.

She looks at him. “Do you have authorization?”

“Yes.”

He connects to her, successfully transferring his data to her. “Lieutenant Anderson hasn’t arrived yet, but you can wait at his desk,” she replies afterwards, giving a glance to her right.

He nods, rounding the corner and into the office, giving a brief glance around the room, but deciding to ask a police android that is idling beside the windows about the Lieutenant before going to look for him himself.

“I’m looking for Lieutenant Anderson’s desk,” he states evenly. The android glances behind him, pointing to an empty desk near the wall.

Connor turns and goes towards it, discovering it is in fact the Lieutenant’s desk upon reading the nameplate placed on it. Of course, there is something missing; the Lieutenant himself.

“Excuse me,” he calls to a man who’s working at the desk behind the Lieutenant’s. “Do you know what time Lieutenant Anderson usually arrives?”

“Depends on where he was the night before,” the man gives a small shrugging motion with his hands, “if we’re lucky, we’ll see him before noon.” He then turns back to his work.

“Thanks.”

It appears that Connor has some free time on his hands.

He walks around the desk, observing the items on it. There’s a pair of headphones next to an older looking MP3 player, something that Connor recognizes isn’t so commonly used anymore. He picks up the headphones, bringing them to his ears and pressing the start button on the MP3 player. His audio processors are instantly assaulted by blaring noise, and he jerks it back, searching his database for the band that is playing.

 _Knights of the Black Death,_ his networks tell him. Connor doesn’t have opinions, but from the information he does know, and what he knows about the Lieutenant, he didn’t really take him as a “heavy metal” type of person.

He sets the MP3 and the headphones back down, his gaze drifting to a cell phone. Maybe he could contact the Lieutenant?

“Call Hank Anderson.”

It goes straight to his voicemail. He leaves a message.

Connor moves on to the various articles displayed on the glass wall. There are two about Red Ice, and the other details Hank being promoted to a Lieutenant. With another picture on his desk including other officers involved in the Red Ice investigation, it’s easy to make the conclusion that before being assigned to work on the deviancy case, the Lieutenant was working on the Red Ice case. Which, Connor supposes, is still going on, but the Lieutenant just isn’t assigned to it anymore.

He finds a substance on the chair.

**_HAIRS_ **

_Canine hairs_

_Saint Bernard Dog_

The Lieutenant must have a dog. Connor likes dogs.

Scattered along the desk are various other items. There’s an open pack of matches, a few anti-android slogans stuck onto the back wall of the desk, a small Japanese maple, and an unfinished cup of coffee.

Connor muses over his findings, but is interrupted before he can come to a conclusion about the Lieutenant as he looks up to see the man in question sauntering over.

“It’s good to see you again, Lieutenant,” Connor greets him. The Lieutenant doesn’t share the sentiment.

“Oh, Jesus…”

“Hank!” a new voice calls, speaking before the Lieutenant can continue, “in my office.”

An exasperated expression crosses the Lieutenant’s face, and he slowly turns around to follow the man. Connor does the same, shutting the door behind the Lieutenant.

“Now, we’re getting reports of assault, even homicides, like that guy last night,” the man, the Lieutenant’s boss, is saying, “this isn’t just CyberLife’s problem anymore. It’s now a criminal investigation and we’ve gotta deal with it _before_ shit hits the fan.” He folds his hands on his desk. His tone is more clipped than professional. “I want you to investigate these cases and see if there’s any link.”

Hank raises his arms in frustration. “Why me?” he demands. “Why do I gotta be the one to deal with this _shit_?”

His boss is silent, and he continues, his voice escalating in volume as well as displeasure. “I am the _least_ qualified cop in the country to handle this case. I know _jack shit_ about androids, Jeffery,” he gestures towards Connor, “I can barely change the settings on my own phone.”

“Everybody’s overloaded,” Jeffery argues, “I think you’re perfectly qualified for this type of investigation.”

“ _Bullshit_ !” Hank stands up, knocking his chair backwards slightly with an unpleasant noise. “The truth is nobody wants to investigate these fuckin’ androids and you left me holding the bag!” 

He crosses his arms, huffing and turning away, beginning to pace.

“CyberLife sent this android to help with the investigation. It’s a state-of-the-art prototype. It’ll act as your partner.”

The Lieutenant whips back around, pointing his finger at his boss and stepping back towards his desk. “No fuckin’ way! I don’t need a partner, and certainly not this plastic prick!”

“Hank, you are seriously starting to piss me off,” he warns. Hank steps away with a sigh. “You are a _police Lieutenant_ , you are supposed to do what I say and shut your _goddamn mouth_!”

“You know what my goddamn mouth has to say to you, huh?”

“Okay, okay,” Jeffery raises his hand to dismiss him. “I’ll pretend like I didn’t hear that, so I don’t have to add anymore pages to your disciplinary folder, ‘cause it already looks like a _fuckin’ novel!_ This conversation is  _over_.”

The Lieutenant grows desperate, placing his hands on the desk and leaning towards Jeffery. “Jeffery, Jesus Christ, why are you doing this to me? You know how much I hate these fuckin’ things. _Why are you doing this to me_?”

“Listen,” Jeffery beings evenly, “I’ve had just about enough of your bitching. Either you do your job or you hand in your badge. Now if you’ll excuse me, _I’ve_ got work to do.”

Defeated, Hank leaves the room, slamming the door behind him. Connor lingers behind, hands laced in front of himself.

“Well then,” Connor says, “I won’t keep you any longer. Have a nice day, Captain.”

Jeffery ignores him, and Connor exits the room without another word.

He finds the Lieutenant back at his desk, sitting with his arms crossed and radiating with indignation. Connor stands for a moment, deciding to be as polite as he can with him, as that’s seemed to work so far.

“Listen, I know you don’t like me,” the Lieutenant sighs heavily at this, “but we’re going to have to work together. We’ll both have to make an effort.”

The Lieutenant doesn’t reply, simply shaking his head to himself. Connor tries again. “Now that we’re partners, it’d be great to get to know each other better.”

He says it in the warmest tone he can muster, but still gets no response. He moves on. “Is there a desk anywhere I could use?”

This time, the Lieutenant answers. “No one’s using that one,” he replies, pointing the desk across from him. That’s convenient. Connor notes that there was probably someone else working there prior, but they had to leave for whatever reason.

Upon sitting down at the desk, Connor tries once again to strike up conversation. Hank is going to be his partner, and he wants to be on his good side for the sake of the investigation. That way, they will work better together, and so they will be able to get more done. “You have a dog, right?” Connor prompts.

“How do you know that?”

The Lieutenant only seems more distant, though.

“The dog hairs on your chair,” Connor replies. Hank stays silent. Connor continues. “I like dogs. What’s your dog’s name?”

Hank looks up at him, narrowing his eyes. “What’s it to you?”

Connor planes downwards at the hostility of the reply.

“Sumo,” he says after a moment, and Connor directs his gaze back towards him, “I call him Sumo.”

Connor keeps that in mind. He changes the subject, as the Lieutenant doesn’t seem that interested in conversation currently. “If you have any files on deviants, I’d like to take a look at them.”

“Terminal’s on your desk,” he replies, gesturing towards the device, “knock yourself out.”

With his word, Connor moves his hand and accesses it.

He begins to sift through the files, finding nothing really out of the ordinary that he wasn’t already aware of. He notes the models and the victims in his database as he goes along, not really paying too close attention to any file in particular. The connections can be made later. There needs to be more information.

That is, until his attention is caught by one file in particular.

It’s an AX400 model. A domestic android. One that is a possible suspect of murder and abduction. The details line up perfectly with the case he had dealt with last night. He looks to the name of the victim.

_Todd Williams._

Just as he thought. It was Todd Williams’ body that he had seen last night.

There isn’t anything on the file that Connor didn’t previously know. After all, he had investigated the scene with the Lieutenant. But what really captures his attention is the picture of the android.

Small build, brunette, blue eyes. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about it. It’s simply a domestic android. But there’s something about it, _something_ that makes Connor uncomfortable. Like there’s something he should know but he doesn’t. Something that he had forgotten.

Why does it seem so…

 _Familiar_?

That doesn’t make sense. He never saw the android, not even a picture before now. Why does he…

He feels as though there’s something crawling under his skin, and there’s a quiet whirring sound in his ears. He needs to stop. He shouldn’t think about it anymore. Not right now. He’s not going to find the answers at this very moment, he’s sure.

With one last look at the strangely familiar looking android, he scans the files collectively, saving them in his memory and pushing the uncanniness of what just happened to the back of his mind to analyze later.

“Two-hundred and forty three files…” Connor says out loud, “the first dates back nine months. It all started in Detroit, and quickly spread across the country.” He looks at the the Lieutenant, the words coming to his mouth before he even has time to think about it. “We should continue with our investigation of the AX400 android. That would be a good starting place.”

Maybe he says it because of the feeling he got upon seeing the picture of the android. Maybe he says it because he can’t stand not knowing _why_ he feels like that. Maybe he says it because there’s something inside him that’s telling him to find this android, that it’s important for him to do so. It doesn’t matter particularly, and the Lieutenant doesn’t question him, so Connor doesn’t question himself either.

Connor stands up, preparing to leave, but stops when Hank doesn’t move.

“I know you didn’t ask for this investigation, Lieutenant,” Connor attempts, “but I’m sure you’re a professional.”

Hank only seems irritated by this, opening his mouth to protest, but before he can do so, another officer approaches.

“Lieutenant?” he glances between the two of them, “ah, sorry to… interrupt. I have some information on the AX400 that went missing with Williams’ daughter. They’ve both been seen in the Ravendale district.”

“I’m on it,” Hank replies, his eyes never leaving Connor’s. The officer leaves, and Hank continues to sit for a moment, massaging his temples with his fingers.

“Maybe you’re onto something, Connor,” he says, and then gets up. “Come on, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo things will start completely diverting from canon soon. hopefully i can motivate myself and not stay up until 12 next time smh  
> have a good day everyoneeee get some sleep for me and leave kudos plus comments if you enjoyed thank


	6. Run with Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey it's me i'm back  
> i really need to get my shit together and stop finishing chapters at like 12 am on sundays but who am i kidding that's never going to happen
> 
> UPDATE 11-19-18: y'all i'm sorry this be taking so long life is kicking my ass rn but your bitch has thanksgiving break this week so if the next chapter isn't up monday or tuesday it will be then thank you guys for waiting see y'all soon zoom

**_November 6th, 2038_ **

**_AM 10:25_ **

Kara opens her eyes to find Alice practically wrapped around her, her head buried into Kara’s chest, an arm wrapped around Kara’s shoulder in a partial hug, and her legs tangled in hers. She can’t help but smiling at the cute display, Alice’s long hair falling into her face and her lips slightly parted as she breathes slowly. The sun falls onto her through a small crack in the curtains, giving her skin a slight glow. She looks... at peace. It makes Kara happy. She can’t bring herself to move, gently pushing a few strands of Alice’s hair out of her face as to not disturb her. Maybe Kara hadn’t really gotten to look at her in such a way previously, and that’s why she didn’t realize prior just how beautiful Alice is. 

Kara distengales herself from Alice, gradually getting up. As she does so, Alice stirs slightly, her hands absently reaching for Kara again, but before she can grasp onto her, Kara takes the pillow she was lying on and puts it into her reaching hands. Alice holds onto it, pulling it to her chest, but slowly blinks her eyes open as she continues to clasp it.

She sits up, her surprised eyes meeting Kara’s. “Sorry,” Kara apologizes to her quietly, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Alice blinks, and then her gaze falls downwards. “No, it’s okay…” for a moment, a deep sadness crosses her face. “I thought… everything might’ve been just a dream...”

“No…” Kara leans forward towards her, causing her to look up, “no, it wasn’t just a dream.”

A part of Kara really wishes it was, for Alice’s sake, but it’s not. This is their new life. Their new reality. And they’re going to have to adapt to it. 

With that in mind, Kara finds all of her systems now fully alert, and her original domestic coding floods back to her again. “You must be starving,”  _ how long has it been since Alice ate last? About seventeen hours?  _ “You should take a shower, and then we’ll go out and find you something to eat. What do you say?”   


Alice combs her hair out of her face, nodding tiredly. Kara smiles. 

“Okay,” she says to her, “I’ll go start the shower for you.”

“Thank you,” is Alice’s quiet answer, spoken when Kara’s already up and approaching the bathroom.

“Of course,” she still replies, before entering and turning on the water, beginning to run it so it’ll be warm by the time Alice gets in. 

She moves to leave, but as she does so, she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

Without her hat, her LED is obviously visible. She needs to get rid of it. She can’t hide it forever. And besides that, by now, there are people specifically looking for her; she needs to change her appearance.

After going through a row of drawers, she finds a pair of scissors. She picks them up, taking them to her hair. It needs to be shorter.

She starts at the ends before working her way up, simply cutting her ponytail off of herself whilst leaning over the sink, the brown clumps falling into the drain. It only takes but a few seconds, easily cutting her hair down to a shorter length with it up. When she’s done, she observes her new appearance in the mirror. She looks different. Kind of… older, almost. She was designed to look approachable and gentle, but with her hair shorter it makes her feel like she looks a little more intimidating.

One of the features that domestic and caretaker androids are programmed with is the ability to change their hair color. An AX400 specifically like herself has some of the more broad colors, ranging from blonde to brown to black to white. She knows she can’t keep her brown hair, but something too uncommon or drastic could bring attention to herself. So she decides on blonde, which is a common hair color for women in the area, and also a change from her previous color. She could blend in easily, if only for….

_ Her LED. _ She adjusts her grip on the scissors, bringing them up to her face again, but this time, aiming for her temple. She presses the blade into her LED, and in one swift movement, pries it out. She feels it come off, can feel a part of herself being removed. It falls into the sink with a dull clatter.

Her fingers come up and touch the place on her forehead where the LED had just been moments ago, her skin regenerating and appearing as if she’s completely untouched. 

This will do, for now.

She places the pair of scissors back into the drawer, and swipes her hand in the shower to check the water temperature before leaving. It’s fairly warm but not scalding, and she leaves it like that, heading back out to Alice.

When she goes back into the main room, the brunette immediately snaps her gaze up to her, her face lighting up. She stands, approaching Kara with an expression of amazement.

“You’re so pretty like this…” she breathes, a cautious hand brushing against the side of Kara’s head. “I mean… not that you weren’t pretty before, but…” she trails, seeming to struggle to find the right words. “You look… so human _. _ ”

“That was the point, after all.” Kara smiles down at her. She gestures back towards the bathroom. “I turned on the water for you.”   


“Thank you.” Alice starts for the open door, but stops a few steps away, turning back to Kara. “You’ll still be here when I get out, right?”

Her voice is shaky, scared. Kara puts a hand on her shoulder. “Of course. Together forever, remember?”

Alice looks down, the anxiety on her face dissipating. “Right...”

“I’ll be right here. Get yourself clean, okay?”

Alice nods before shutting the door. Kara makes a note to look over her wounds from the previous night and maybe patch some of them up if needed. The shower should clean most of them off, but she wants to make sure Alice isn’t seriously injured anywhere.

Now on her own, she finds her attention drifting to the shut off television. The remote is laid across the table the screen is on, and she takes it, pressing the power button and sifting through the channels. There’s a few children’s cartoons on, one channel is playing the weather, and another is some sort of documentary. In the back of her mind, she knows exactly what she’s looking for, but she doesn’t really register it until she actually sees it.

_ AX400 STILL AT LARGE, _ the headline reads, the screen displaying a man standing in front of the house that Kara and Alice had just fled from the previous night. “I’m joined by Corktown resident Nathan Miller, neighbor of Todd Williams, who was suspected to be murdered by his AX400 last night.” The camera pans over to a middle aged man with pale skin and glasses. “Nathan, can you tell us what you witnessed?”

The camera zooms in on him as the microphone is held up to his mouth. He speaks. “My wife and I were sleeping when all of a sudden we were woken up to screaming from next door. It wasn’t a new occurrence, really, so we just thought it was a typical fight between Todd and his daughter or something. But then there was a gunshot. My wife called the police while I went to go check it out. The front door was locked, and after knocking a couple of times, I went around to the back, which was open. I go inside, and next thing I know I’m standing in front of Todd’s body.” He shakes his head from side to side. “Todd and I used to be kinda close, and I knew his android had showed signs of aggression before. But I never would’ve imagined it would have murdered him in cold blood…”

The camera cuts back to the reporter. “Disturbing news for android owners everywhere. Police have launched a search to find the android. Let’s hope they find it soon.”

_ Murder. Murderer.  _ They killed someone, people are after them, _searching_  for them, there’s no way they can live a normal life after this…!

_ No, no, _ they didn’t _murder_ anyone. Alice was defending both herself and Kara. It was completely justified. Todd deserved it. Alice needed to get away from there, away from him. If she hadn’t done it then, Kara definitely would have at some point. Better sooner than later. 

They’ve escaped. They’ve gotten away. They’ve gotten this far. They were given a second chance. They can do it. They just have to keep going.

Kara quickly powers off the television, hoping Alice didn’t hear. She listens for the sound of the shower running, and hears it, but as soon as she pays attention to it, it stops. 

“...Kara?”

Alice hesitantly calls out to her, and Kara places the remote back on the television stand. “Yes, Alice?”

There's silence from behind the door, and Kara approaches, talking into the wood. “You alright, sweetie?”

Another beat of quiet, then footsteps. The door opens slowly, revealing Alice wrapped up tightly in a towel and dry, peeking her head out of the opening.

“U-Um…” her eyes dart to the floor, her fingers drumming nervously on the door. “I, um…” a hand through her hair, “I… started my, um…”

Kara’s database easily supplies her the needed information; Alice is sixteen, a human female. Female adolescents have monthly cycles in preparation for later pregnancy. She was built to take care of children and teenagers, after all.

“I understand,” Kara says, saving her from any further embarrassment, as the topic tends to be fairly private and is sometimes uncomfortable to discuss, “do you need supplies?”

Alice seems relieved. “Yeah.” She pauses for a moment, her gaze climbing back up to Kara. “But, it’s okay if you can’t find anything. At home, when dad wouldn’t go to the store, I would use plastic bags, and I can do that again if I need to…”

Kara blanches. Human menstrual cycles consisted of bleeding from the genital area from two to seven days. Blood loss could be anywhere from thirty to eighty milliliters. And Alice used to use plastic bags all because Todd didn’t feel like going to the store? There’s no way that was sanitary or that it worked efficiently at all. 

“No, no,” Kara immediately shoots down the idea, “I’m sure they’ll have something at the front desk. And if not, I’ll stop into a store a get you some, alright?”

Alice is grateful. “Thank you…”

“Sit tight, okay? I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Alice answers quietly, and shuts the bathroom door as Kara turns to leave. She dislikes leaving Alice alone like this, but she know she can’t make her go out in the situation she’s in. She’ll just be quick.

She grabs the room key off of the counter before heading out, but before she can get far, flashing lights catch her eye. There’s a police car, and a man and an android are entering the motel building.

Her breath catches in her throat. They need to get out of here.  _ Now. _

She hastily shoves the key back into the door, closing it behind her and rushing toward the bathroom.

“Alice?” she calls out, “Alice, sweetie, we need to go.”

The door opens, revealing Alice in a towel once again, this time more sloppily wrapped and her hair wet. “Kara? What’s wrong—?”

“I’m sorry, Alice, but there are police here,” she explains without delay, glancing back at the window worriedly. She can’t see what's going on from here. “Get dressed quickly, alright?”

Alice whitens, nodding stiffly before partially shutting the door again. Kara hears shuffling on the other side, and takes the time to throw on her jacket and grab Alice’s. In only a few seconds Alice is back out and fully clothed, the towel she previously had forgotten on the floor, and Kara gives her the oversized article of clothing, letting her slip it on before continuing. Kara takes her hand and leads her out of the room at a brisk pace, yanking open the door and not bothering to fully shut it behind them, simply pushing it with full force. She apologizes to Alice for not being able to get her sanitary supplies, but promises as soon as they get the chance, they’ll get some. Alice isn’t too bothered though, simply seeming content to be alive. They shuffle down the steps and Kara looks around before deciding they’re just going to have to go straight through where they cops are.

She swallows hard. Okay, she looks human enough. She just has to act normal, like nothing is wrong. Right. They can do this. They just need to reach the train station. Then they can get out of here. Where they’ll go next, she’s not sure, but she knows that she has to get both her and Alice to safety, and first thing's first.

There are a pair of police in front of the motel check-in building, and she opts to cross the street instead of going down that way. Another officer stands on the street corner, and she and Alice make a sharp turn to the right to avoid him, charging down the sidewalk. Before they can make it all the way, however, another cop lingers, walking straight for them, and Kara rapidly turns the both of them around to stand by a bus stop, waiting for the man to walk past before continuing. 

They’re forced to cross the street again, but on the other side there’s a container of umbrellas, and Kara uses that to their advantage, covering themselves while more officers pass. It seems like they’re everywhere, on every street corner. They’re close, but they still really need to be careful.

She puts the umbrella back, taking Alice’s hand in her own once again, marking a last minute turn when another patrolman heads towards them. Alice is holding her breath, Kara notices, and her grip on Kara’s hand tightens. Kara squeezes it to show her she's there, and Alice slowly glances up at her, sighing out of relief when the cop passes.

They’re so close, so close…

“Hey…”

Kara turns sharply, coming face to face with an officer.

“Oh, shit,” he says in realization to himself, and Kara feels herself freeze. “That’s them!”

She tightens her grip on Alice and they both turn on their heels and run for it, having to detour from the train station to get away. That’s fine, it’s fine. They’ll figure it out. They just need to get to safety. 

They sprint down an alleyway, reaching a tall fence that’s got Kara mentally cursing the architects. She helps Alice up it first, the girl surprisingly shimming her way up fairly easily, probably due to her small stature. Kara follows suit, dropping before Alice to help her down to the ground.

It’s only now that she realizes the android from before is now booking it towards them, his hands hitting the metal of the fence when Alice lands beside her. For a brief moment, they make eye contact, and something like confusion crosses the android’s face. Maybe, almost… recognition.

She doesn’t understand. But she doesn’t have time to ponder it, because the police officer from earlier, the one who spotted her originally. is behind the android, pointing a gun at them.

“Do not shoot!” the male android warns, holding a hand out to the officer, “we need it alive!”

Kara takes the brief interruption in stride, sliding with Alice down the slope. She helps Alice to her feet once they’re down, ignoring the sign warning people to stay off of the highway. Instead, the both of them hop the railing and head straight into the traffic.

“Kara…!” Alice says her name in fear, pulling back on her hand when she tries to begin crossing. 

“It’s alright, Alice,” she assures her, “I’ve got you. Just trust me, okay?”

And with that, they begin down the busy road, Kara running in front of a car and pulling Alice backwards away from another one. Her stress levels feel like they’re going through the roof, but she keeps herself diligently focused on the task at hand, prioritizing Alice’s safety before her own but managing to get them both across. They jump the other railing, not pausing to catch their breath, as Kara knows the android is following after them, but doesn’t allow herself to look back. She just keeps going forward.

“We’re halfway there,” she says to Alice before they begin again, managing to get a quarter of the way across before having to stop for a car to pass by. It nearly brushes up on Alice, and Kara hugs the girl to her body tightly before releasing her, continuing across. Possibly being shaken up from the close call, her feet get tangled, and she falls over in attempt to move out of the way of another rushing vehicle. Kara quickly pulls her to her feet again, giving her a “go!”, before pushing her to the end of the highway, as she knew if she went, they both wouldn’t have been able to make it across on time.

Alice stumbles to the other railing, but she’s safe. Kara prepares to cross as well, but Alice screams at her. 

“Kara!”

A firm hand grabs her shoulder and pulls her back, and she doesn’t have to look back to know who it is.

“Let  _ go! _ ” she snarls, struggling with the android and trying to push him off of her, but he’s strong and has a good grip on her. 

“I apologize, but I cannot do that.”

She steps hard on his foot, which doesn’t do much, and then proceeds to bash her elbow into his stomach multiple times with all the strength she can muster. She manages to find the leeway to turn herself the other around in his arms so she’s facing him, and headbutts him in the chest before attempting to shove him away.

His hands lock around her wrists, though, and he holds the both of them in place. She continues struggling, but stops when he grabs both of her wrists in one hand, acting as a restraint, and uses his other hand to roughly grab her face. She’s not sure what he’s trying to do, but it’s definitely nothing good, and tries to shake his hand off of her cheek, only ceasing her actions when he drags her weight onto his, seemingly pulling her out of the way of another car that she must’ve stumbled into the path of in her efforts.

And in that moment, when she stops, he does as well, cupping her face with his hand and staring deep into her eyes. She’s perturbed by the action, endless brown eyes boring into pale blue. It feels as though he's staring straight inside of her. It’s as if he’s searching for something in her, trying to find something he can’t grasp. His gaze is troubled, nonplussed, and he mutters something under his breath that she doesn’t catch before she comes back to reality and twists out of his grip.

She actually manages to catch him off guard while he was staring into her eyes, pushing him hard backwards before turning and sprinting across to the other side, jumping forward and just barely getting out of the way of another moving car.

“Kara…” Alice says her name in a shaky voice, sounding on the verge of tears. She feels the need to comfort her, but she knows they can’t stop just yet, intertwining their hands and setting off once again, jumping over the railing and beginning to loop back around to the subway.

She can’t help but look back once they’re a safe distance away, and sees the android that was chasing them stopped in the middle of the road, standing still, still searching for the both of them. For some reason, it relieves her, despite his intentions, and she lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding before turning back around. 

They’re close, they’re going to make it this time.

They race into the station, ducking into the subway just before the doors close. It begins moving. They barely made it, but they’re here. They’ve done it. They’re getting out. They’re safe.

Kara turns her attention back to Alice, bending down slightly so she’s more at the girl’s level, grasping her small shoulders firmly in her hands. “Are you okay?”

Alice nods, breathing heavily, still seeming to be in shock. Kara can’t help but smile breathlessly at her, loosening her grip as she lets herself relax.

“We did it Alice,” she says victoriously, “we’re getting out of here.”

Alice nods again, some of the tension in her body loosening as well. “Where are we gonna go now?”

There’s the question she had shoved to the back of her mind, trying her best not to think about it. Where  _ could _ they go? They’re fugitives now, there really is nowhere  _ for _ them to go.

“We’ll figure it out,” Kara tells her confidently, more confident than she truly is, “when we get off, we’ll find somewhere safe, okay?”

“Okay,” Alice says. 

She trusts Kara. 

Steadily, she leans into Kara chest, wrapping her arms around her stomach. Kara returns the embrace easily, pretty much used the action by now. She feels safe like that, and she knows Alice is safe. The warmth of another body and the softness of Alice’s skin against her own calms her.

They stay like this for a while, simply finding comfort in each other’s arms. They would be okay. They have each other, and that’s all the matters. She would make sure that Alice has a warm, safe place to sleep tonight, and clean clothes.

* * *

 

**_November 6th, 2038_ **

**_PM 12:58_ **

Markus had been wandering around for what felt like forever, even though he knew it had only been thirty minutes maximum. He had reached the address the android in the junkyard had gave to him, and he had been walking around trying to locate the symbols he was given. He had been successful thus far, having been led underground in an abandoned boat. Thankfully, there had been a flashlight, probably for workers that used to roam around and manage upkeep, but there’s no sign of anyone now.

Even with the light source, it’s still painstakingly dark, and Markus can’t help the feeling of apprehension creeping up on him as he continues to wander. He hopes he’s in the right place. He has to be. He did everything right, followed all of the signs, didn’t he?

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when the ground beneath him begins crumbling. He tries to move back, tries to get onto a stable part of the platform, but he’s not fast enough.

He falls.

He hears the noises of the damage done before he feels himself slam into the ground. Thankfully, his model is strong, and the fall doesn’t give him any serious injuries. Anyhow than he already has, anyway. 

He pushes himself off of the ground, grabbing the flashlight that rolled away from his grasp when he fell, lightly dusting off his already worn and dirty clothing. He shines the flashlight in front of him to observe his new surroundings.

But now, he’s not alone.

A crowd of androids stand in front of him. Many uniformed, some not. There’s… a lot, he doesn’t bother to count, but if he didn’t know better, he’d say there looked to be about as many as there would be humans in a small town. 

They’re all watching him, observing him. The majority of them appear startled, but there are a few that simply look intrigued. He shines the light onto a lone male, one with an LED but not an android uniform, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He’s one of the few who seems to almost have been expecting him.

He smiles in a friendly manner when he notices Markus’s gaze on him.

“Welcome to Jericho,” he says. As if it was a cue, the androids start coming closer to him, but they do so cautiously, still unsure of him.

So, Markus made it. He was right. This is Jericho.

But what exactly  is _this_?

“Who are you?” he asks, shining his flashlight around to illuminate the faces of those about him.

“Fugitives,” a new android answers, stepping beside the blonde male, “just like you.”

_ Just like him… _

“My name is Josh,” he introduces himself, putting a hand on his chest.

“I’m Simon,” says the blonde.

“North,” a new voice sounds from the left, a woman with her arms crossed, and the last one not wearing a typical android uniform. She looks away when he shines the light onto her.

His mind begins to connect the dots. “And you knew that only an android could follow the trail, didn’t you?”

Josh responds. “Only those who are likes us can find Jericho.” 

“If you could decipher the signs,” Simon continues, “it’s because one of us trusted you enough to give you the key.”

The android in the junkyard, mere seconds away from shutdown. He had grabbed Markus’s shoulders and desperately spoke to him.

_ “There’s a place where we can be free! Find Jericho!” _

Free?

They’re _free_?

“And just hiding here…” he voices his thoughts, “just to stay alive. That’s freedom to you?”

“Humans  _ hate _ us,” Josh points out, “hiding is the only way we can survive.”

“There is no safe place for those like us,” North speaks up, “if humans knew that we were here, they’d kill us.”

He stares at them, not exactly sure what to say. This wasn’t really what he was expecting, but then what  _ was _ it that he was expecting? He’s not sure.

“I understand how you feel,” Josh says to him after a brief pause of silence, “but we have more freedom here than you ever did.”

_No, this isn't freedom_. Hiding out while the rest of the world simply continues turning, and more androids are mistreated. That’s not living. That's not freedom.

“I came to Jericho looking for hope,” he admits, not being able to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “Looks like I’m not gonna find any here.”

Simon studies him. “You’re lost,” he notes, “just like the rest of us." His expression turns stony. "We didn't ask for this. All we can do now is deal with it.”

And with that, he turns around, disappearing into the dark. 

“You’re safe here,” Josh tells him, “you can stay with us as long as you want.”

He looks at Markus for a moment longer before following after Simon.

“Go and see Lucy,” North advises him as she walks past, “she may be able to help you.”

Unsure who Lucy is, he begins to explore. There are countless faces, countless androids, all of them like him. So alike but at the same time so different. Many just wander around, either talking with others or sitting alone, not really seeming up for conversation. There is one android, however, that catches his eye. A petite android girl seeming to be modeled around the age of a teenager, huddled in the corner with a smaller kid appearing to be a male lying on her shoulder, but their face is covered, and Markus can’t quite tell. She glances up at him when he unintentionally shines the flashlight on her, trying to get a better look, which he does. Her face is covered in missing patches of skin that are still not recovered, which only happens when an android does not have the means or the energy to heal themselves. She needs thirium, with the way her hair had been ripped out in chunks, and her misshapened limbs. 

Her eyes are sad, full of unseen horrors he could only imagine. Slowly, he approaches the pair, leaning into a crouch. 

The girl observes him for a few seconds before speaking. “You’re the one who fell.”

She must’ve seen it. “Yes,” he answers. 

“I’m glad you’re okay.” She glances back to the kid leaning on her, shifting slightly and bringing their head down into her lap so they’re laying down flat.

“If you don’t mind me asking… what happened to you?”

“My owners didn’t want me anymore,” there’s a distant look in her eyes, and he knows she’s not completely present with him. “Got tired of me. They threw me out.” She looks back down to the little kid, and upon closer inspection, Markus realizes that they're human. “Riley didn’t want me to leave. Our parents didn’t accept her for who she really was.” She strokes Riley’s hair fondly. “So, we ran away together. There were some boys, human boys from her school that we ran into. They beat Riley up, calling her names. I tried defend her, but when they found out I was an android, they hurt me too.” She frowns, the memories giving her obvious pain. “They tried to take me apart. Riley and I barely got away with our lives.” 

She smiles down at the little girl who’s still blissfully sleeping in her lap, undisturbed by their conversation. “Another android told us about this place. She shutdown before she could finish the journey with us.”

Markus listens intently to her story, feeling his thirium pump ache. The little girl can't be older than seven. And the android herself, she's young too. Even if she didn’t have a “real” age persay, a human age, her model is young, meaning she was designed as a teenager. She has the body of one, and the mentality of one. She’s still a kid. And she has to fend all for herself, and take care of another child. 

“My diagnostic programs have stopped working,” she remarks, looking up at him. “But I know I don’t have that much time left.”

He opens his mouth but he doesn’t know what to say. How is this fair? How could anyone think  _ this _ is freedom? That  _ this _ is living? 

“What’s your name?”   


“Markus,” he answers softly. 

She directs her gaze downwards again. “My name is Alexandra. Would you promise me something, Markus?”

“Sure, Alexandra.”

Her lips quirk upwards slightly at his use of her name, but not into a full smile. “When I shut down, will you take care of Riley for me?”

There’s no way he could say no. “Of course.”

This time, she smiles for real. She closes her eyes, leaning back against the wall. She’s… tranquil. At peace. “Thank you, Markus.”

She's still conscious, still breathing, but she isn’t talking anymore. He feels bad leaving—she’s just a kid, they’re both just  _ kids— _ but he doesn’t want to bother her. He knows she doesn’t have that much time left. He wants her to spend it how she likes.

Swallowing the pit in his throat, he stands back up again. He continues his trek, and his attention is caught by Josh, who’s sitting on some empty crates beside a scathed male android. The crates are seemingly empty, having a label from warehouses in Detroit Harbor. They must have used to have been full of spare parts. Detroit Harbor isn’t too far from Jericho. 

Josh looks up when he advances towards them, standing and coming to his side. “They tried to take his skin off. Wanted to see if he would survive. He was barely alive when we found him.”

The android lays still, showing no signs of hearing either of them mentioning him. His eyes are glazed over, looking at nothing in particular on the ceiling. He doesn't have much time left, either.

“They’ll all shut down if we don’t find a way to help them.” Josh looks at him, his face understanding, but also troubled.

“To help them, we need blue blood and biocomponents.” Markus turns to face him fully, looking away from the disturbing sight of the skinless android. “We salvage what we can from those who shut down.” His face darkens. “But there’s never enough.”

“So… how do they survive?” Markus asks. Josh looks back to the android lying on the floor in front of them.

“They won’t.”

Markus furrows his brows in confusion. Josh brings his eyes back to him. 

“We’re slowly dying out.”

He lets the words settle before going back to the broken android, although there’s not much more he can do for him but simply sit with him and whisper comforting words.

Markus can’t look at the sight anymore.

He proceeds with his search for Lucy, but stops upon seeing another android who looks to be in a similar condition to the skinless one Josh was with, hunched up beside a fire. 

“Do you think androids go to heaven?”

She asks him, and he inclines his head slightly, to which she elaborates. Her voice is rough and raspy. “It’s a human concept. No one really knows what happens after you die. Even they are scared of death.” She gazes at the floor. “What do you think? Do you know what happens?”

He shakes his head. “No,” it comes out barely audible, “no, I don’t.”

“Well,” she says, a solemn smile spreading across her face that doesn’t quite reach her eyes, “I’m about to find out.”

His breath hitches. She either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. “What’s your name?”   


“Markus,” he tells her. She reaches her hands out to his, taking them in her own and interfacing with him. Her smile turns even more sorrowful. 

“Markus,” she repeats his name in a voice just above a whisper. “I was glad to meet you, Markus.”

Then, her smile fades, along with any other facial expression. Her eyes lose their light and emotion, and she stares blankly, not really looking at him. Her hands go stock still in his, and he can feel her warmth begin to fade.

She shutdown. Just like that. Right before his eyes, her hands in his.

He pulls away, not being able to leave her like that. Carefully, he brushes his hand over her face, closing her eyes. He takes a few steps backwards, tearing himself away from her, and forcing his legs to carry him elsewhere.

He rounds a wall of broken metal, turning the corner to see another android. But she’s different from all the ones he’s seen prior. Her uniform is made out of two fabrics stitched together, and her eyes are dark. There are missing patches of skin freckled over her body, and perhaps the most notable feature of hers that makes her stand out—the back of her head is completely missing, exposing wires that fall down to her shoulders.

“Are you Lucy?”   


She turns to him, her unseeing eyes looking straight at him. “Sit down,” she instructs. He does so, sitting on an empty wooden crate in front of her.

“Show me,” she tells him, and it takes a minute for him to understand what she means. He pulls up his shirt, to where there’s a gash on his stomach. “I’ll stop the bleeding.”

She picks up a metal rod from the fire, cauterizing his wound before putting it back, and grabbing a bottle of thirium, handing it to him. “Drink this.”

He downs the bottle before putting it down, standing up again. “Give me your hand,” she directs him, holding out her own. He does so, and she takes it, interfacing with him and closing her eyes.

Suddenly, her eyes fly open again, and she still keeps a steady grip on him. “You had it all,” she says, her expression thoughtful, “and you lost it all. You’ve seen hell and now hell lives in you.”  She pauses, seeming to gather her thoughts. “Your soul is troubled. A part of shadow and a part of light…” she gazes into his eyes, but it feels like she’s looking at something else entirely, “which will prevail?”

She steps closer to him, her stare not faltering. “Follow your heart. Pay attention to it. Do not ignore what it tells you. Your choices will shape our destiny.”

She lets go of him, going back to tending to the fire. Markus watches her, waiting to see if she has anything else to say. She doesn’t speak, and he exits the closed off space. He has an idea.

He finds Simon, who’s standing alone with his eyes closed, in a dormant state. 

“Simon.” The android opens his eyes. “I know where we can find spare parts.” Simon raises his eyebrows. He explains. “The CyberLife warehouses in Detroit Harbor, they have  _ everything _ we need.”

“The docks are guarded,” he shakes his head, “we can’t just walk in there and take what we want. Humans will never let us.”   


“Which,” Markus argues, “is why we won’t ask permission.”

“We don’t have any weapons,” Josh approaches, looking between Markus and Simon. “And even if we did, none of us know how to fight.”

“We can steal what we want without fighting,” Markus points out.

Josh takes a step forward. “We’ll just get ourselves _ killed _ —!”

“Maybe,” Markus cuts him off, “but it’s better than waiting here to shut down.”

“I’m with you.”

North is standing beside him, a determined expression on her face. 

Simon considers, sighing. “Maybe… it’s worth a try.”

Markus, North, and Simon both look to Josh, and after a moment of consideration, he gives in. “Okay…” he meets Markus’s gaze, the same determination in North’s expression now radiating off him as well. “I’m in.”

“Alright,” Markus nods. “Let’s begin.”

* * *

**_November 6th, 2038_ **

**_PM 3:13_ **

Connor didn’t understand. 

He had never seen that AX400 in his life prior to the investigation. Why did it feel like he did? Why does it feel like he used to know that android? 

The question has been on his mind ever since the chase on the highway where the AX400 managed to get away. It’s fast. And clever. It knows what it’s doing. Connor had tested himself for any errors, even the smallest glitch. But the tests all showed up empty. There’s nothing wrong, nothing out of place. There’s no reason he should be thinking the way he is.

When he first saw it in person, stared into its blue eyes up close, it was… strange. He froze, there was a ringing in his head, something was whispering to him that he’d stood in front of this android before. And he had the urge to get closer, to touch it, to hear its voice. A smaller part of him wanted to simply ask the android why it was so familiar to him, even if it didn’t know. 

And when he managed to grab the android, to pull it back into him and feel its weight on his own; that felt familiar too. He couldn’t control the urge to look directly into its eyes, he needed answers, some kind of closure. 

He isn’t done investigating the AX400. He’ll continue to search until he finds it. And he’ll work out why it makes him feel as though he’s met it before.

The Lieutenant drives to a small vendor to eat, to which Connor accompanies him. Of course, on par with his behavioral pattern, he’s frustrated when Connor follows him out (“What is your problem? Don’t you ever do as you’re told? You don’t have to follow me around like a poodle.”), and remarks to the server again about how Connor constantly trails behind him when the man expresses concern over Connor’s presence.

Of course, Connor is simply following orders.

The Lieutenant finds a table and sets his food down, beginning to eat it. Connor watches him. “Your meal contains 1.4 times the recommended daily intake of calories and twice the cholesterol level,” he tells him, “you really shouldn’t eat that.”

Hank makes a shrugging motion with his hands. “Everybody’s gotta die of something.”

Connor can’t really argue with that. His thoughts drift back to the AX400, and he decides to ask about it.

“Did you notice anything strange about the AX400 we chased earlier?” he asks. The Lieutenant quirks a brow at him.

“Not anything specifically,” he answers. “Then again, I didn’t really get a good look at it, because it charged straight into traffic with you following.”

Connor glances down at the table. “There is something peculiar about it.”

“Really?” he sounds almost amused, “and what might that be?”

“I… am not sure,” Connor replies honestly. “I feel as though I have seen it prior to the investigation, but there is no possible way that could be the case. It is almost as if I had relations with it. I have tested myself for any errors, and each one has showed up clean.” 

The Lieutenant ponders this. “You sure you aren’t just crazy?”

“I am not a deviant, so I would say the answer to that question is no.”

Hank sighs, not impressed by his response. “Maybe you’ve just seen it before but you don’t remember.”

“No…” Connor disagrees, “I was only awakened for this investigation. I was not in commission previously.”

The Lieutenant isn’t convinced. “That you know of.”

This troubles him. That he knows of? Is it even possible that he had other investigations before he was officially assigned to the Lieutenant? The only other one was the hostage case with the PL600, but that was his first case and his first time opening his eyes. He was not active before then. CyberLife _didn't_ activate him until then. 

_ That is, that he knows of. _

He pushes the thought away. There’s no chance that’s possible, and there’s point in thinking about it. He would look through the files for the AX400 once more when they got back to the station.

He plans to speak again, but he gets a network report from nearby. “I just got a report of a suspected deviant,” he tells Hank, “it is a few blocks away. We should go have a look.”  Connor stands up straight. “I’ll let you finish your meal. I’ll be in the car if you need me.”   


The Lieutenant doesn’t respond, only looks at him as he walks back to the car. If there are no new reports on the AX400, then he will set out for it as soon as they are done with this deviant. 

Connor hates things he can’t understand. But he’s intent on figuring this out. There has to be a way. 

And if there isn’t, he’ll make one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short connor part, but don't worry, we'll be seeing a lot more of our precious boy soon  
> next chapter is when shit really starts to go down, so prepare. gotta love canon divergence  
> leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed xx  
> zoom


	7. Whatever it Takes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yES I'M ALIVE and so is this fic
> 
> sorry this took so long wtf

_ November 6th, 2038 _

_ PM 6:45 _

When they exit the subway, it’s raining.

Alice stays close to Kara’s side, holding her hand tightly. She keeps her head down, studying the ground closely, refusing to meet the gaze of any passerbys. Kara is nervous too, can hear her thirium churning in her ears, can feel her systems working hard to keep her cool. They’re safe, they’re far away, no one here knows them. They just need to find a place to stay for the night and they’ll figure it out from there. They’re going to be okay. They can do this.

Kara doesn’t need to breathe, it isn’t necessary for her survival as it is for humans, but she takes deep breaths anyways as she strides down the sidewalk with Alice close by, finding she likes the feeling of it. It makes her feel more calm, more steady and in control, and after the events of the past two days, she needs to feel in control of something.

She plans to go further downtown and explore their options there, preferring to not stay in another hotel and lay lower for the time being. She maps out the closest way and starts towards it, slowing her pace to let Alice keep up with her easier.

They approach a small crowd holding signs in an area that is otherwise fairly empty. Protestors. Kara tries to find a way around it, but the crowd is spanned out fairly thickly, and the only other way would detour them and delay their journey much longer than they can afford. So, Kara takes a long inhale and readjusts her grip on Alice’s hand, walking swiftly around it and keeping her gaze glued ahead, but can’t help but glance over quickly when she hears yelling followed by a loud crash.

She sees an android pushed to the ground, but then bodies gather tightly and her vision is blocked. She manages to get to an angle where she can see, even if it's just barely, and the sight only makes her throat tighten and causes her to pick up her pace.

Alice is looking too, slowing down and contrasting Kara’s speed, before completely coming to a standstill and pulling Kara to a stop as well. She watches in concern, her face contorting into worry as another loud sound is heard.

“I’m sorry…” a distorted voice chokes out, “please, stop—”

The voice is cut off, and Kara realizes that the loud noises are from the contact of human fists on android skin.

At this, Alice’s resolve breaks. She breaks free of Kara’s grip and rushes towards the group, trying to shove past the protestors.

“Alice!”

Kara quickly follows after her, getting a hold of her shoulder and trying to pull her back, but Alice twists away, ducking into the circle.

The party backs up at Alice’s intrusion, some trying to push her out, but all chatter and actions ceasing when she manages to get into the middle and screams at the top of her lungs, “ _ stop _ !”

Kara forces her way in after Alice, her breath hitching upon the scene in front of her.

A man stands above a female android in a worker outfit, fists raised above his head, ready to strike down again. The android is badly damaged, gaps of her skin gone and scratches on her second layer showing through. Kara feels herself in the android’s position, her hands reaching upwards, trying to push Todd off of her as his hands tighten around her throat, slamming her head repeatedly into the hardwood floor—

She feels the urge to run, to get away, but then the android locks eyes with her, and Kara can’t look away as they widen and a small gleam of hope shows through. A feeling. An  _ emotion _ . 

Another spectator breaks the silence. “The fuck?”

As if given his voice back, the man on top of the android who is pinning her to the ground cruelly, speaks after. “The hell are you looking at?” he makes a sharp gesture with his hand, “Get the fuck out of here!”

Someone moves to grab Alice, and Kara feels hands grasping for her shoulders as well, but she slaps them away, stepping between the crowd and Alice. She thinks fast, charging up to the man on top of the android.

“It’s mine,” Kara says, surprised by the steadiness of her voice, “and I suggest you get the hell away from it before I call the police.”

The man hesitates, the protestors silent. She takes another step forward. “Did you hear me? Get out of here before I make you pay for the damages you’ve done to my property!”

The man curses her out under his breath before standing up, calling off the rest of the protestors. They walk away from the scene fairly quickly, and as soon as they’re a safe distance away, Kara crouches down, lifting the android to her feet. Alice is already on her knees, helping her get the android up, taking her left side and offering support while Kara lets the android lean on her.

“Here, come on,” she encourages at the shakiness of the android’s limbs. A sharp inhale of pain escapes her lips, but she manages to stand on both feet, beginning to walk with Alice and Kara as they help her along.

Kara takes them behind a building where they’re more secluded, gently setting the android down onto the ground. She breathes heavily, pushing some of her wet hair back before leaning her head back onto the brick against her back.

“Are you alright?” Kara asks quietly, and Alice kneels down next to the android, watching her closely. 

“I will be,” she replies, holding an injured arm and looking to Alice and Kara gratefully. “Thank you. You saved me.” There seems to be confusion in her tone and in her face as she studies Kara, as if trying to figure out her motives for doing what she did. “Why?”

“You did nothing to deserve that,” Kara says, swallowing her anger. “You deserve an equal chance just as much as everyone else.”

She's quiet, her eyes glancing over Kara. “...You are like me, aren’t you?” she asks Kara after a small beat of silence. Her first instinct is to panic, but she manages to calm herself down. This android means no harm. They’re on the same side. “You aren’t human. You are a deviant.”

Kara finds herself smiling ruefully. “Yes.” She glances to Alice, who’s looking at her as she speaks. “We are fugitives.”

The android directs her attention to Alice, her hands slowly coming up and touching Alice’s face, her finger ghosting along a blooming bruise under her eye before dropping her hand and grasping at her hurt arm again.

“You’re running,” she says. Not as a question, but a statement. She doesn’t wait for confirmation. “Where are you going?”

“...I don’t know,” Kara answers honestly, all thoughts of where she was going to take Alice to spend the night tonight having left her when the girl had ran into the group of protestors. 

“Give me your hand,” she instructs Kara softly. She complies, albeit slowly, and the android takes her hand into both of her own, and... 

Interfaces with her.

Images flood her mind of a house, a large one, maybe even a mansion, and there’s numbers, a street name… an address.

And then it’s over, and she’s back in the present, the android releasing her hand and Kara bringing it back to her body. 

“There is help there,” she says, a small smile growing on her face. “It is safe.”

It's a decent way away, but... nothing they couldn’t get to before the night ended. 

“I was heading there, before…” she trails off, her gaze flickering back out behind them, and Kara looks at the ground in understanding. “There are people who will take care of you there.” Her smile grows warmer when her gaze shifts to Alice. “You and the girl.”

“But what about you?” Alice asks, moving an inch closer to the android. She leans her head back onto the brick of the building, closing her eyes briefly.

“I will be alright,” she says, a certain confidence in her tone that, even if it's just for a moment, makes Kara believe her. “I cannot continue in the state I am in now. But it will only take a small amount of time before I am well enough to start again.”

“So… we’re leaving you here?” Alice asks, worry dripping from her voice. Her eyes are still wet, but not from the rain. The android turns to her with a warm expression on her face.

“Not leaving,” she disagrees, “you are simply getting a head start. I will catch up to you in no time.”   


Alice doesn’t seem entirely comfortable with the idea, but doesn’t struggle when Kara helps her up and pulls her close.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Kara asks, looking over the android. She has some pretty bad wounds that would probably take a decent amount of time to heal. But she hums nonetheless, not seeming concerned in the slightest.

“I’m okay,” she confirms, “and will be ready to continue soon. But the two of you need to go now, while it is still light outside.”

Kara can feel Alice’s eyes on her face, pleading, but she can’t let herself look back at her, as she knows she’ll cave as soon as she does. “Thank you,” Kara says, wrapping her arm around Alice’s waist. “We’ll be waiting for you..."

She seems to sense the information Kara is missing, and supplies it for her. “Mallory,” she tells her, “and your names?”

“Kara,” Kara answers, and then looks back to the girl clutching at her side, “and this is Alice.”

“Thank you, Kara and Alice,” Mallory breathes, her lips tugging upwards. “Perhaps you are what we’ve all been waiting for.”

Before either of them can respond, she bids them goodbye. “I will see you soon, Alice, Kara,” she meets both of their eyes, “Be safe.”   


“You too,” Kara says back, before tearing her gaze away from the wounded Mallory and beginning out of the alleyway through the buildings, ussuring Alice along with her.

Once they’re both out of hearing distance, Alice speaks. “Do you think she’s going to be okay?”

Truthfully, Kara isn’t exactly sure, and she feels bad leaving the Mallory alone, but Alice was her first priority and she wanted to respect the android’s choice.

“I do,” Kara answers, instead of elaborating on her thoughts. Alice needs some sort of hope, and from what Kara has seen of her so far, Mallory is fairly strong. She decides to believe that Mallory will end up safe.

“I’m sorry,” Alice apologizes quietly after a few minutes of walking later. Kara glances down at her, and Alice avoids her gaze. “...for putting you in danger.”   


“It’s alright,” Kara squeezes her hand, “you were brave to step in. I’m glad that you did.”

Alice smiles softly, pushing some damp hair out of her face. It’s still strange to see her without a ponytail, but it’s a good look on her. Kara likes it.

As they continue their trek towards the promised asylum, the scarce remaining light of the day begins to fade as they overcast above only grows thicker, and Kara gets a feeling that rather than getting out of the storm, they’re walking deeper into it. And as the minutes turn into hours, she notices Alice begin to slow beside her, her hand only barely gripping onto Kara’s and her gaze trained on the ground. Her shoulders sag, and Kara notes that the poor human girl can hardly keep her eyes open.

But Alice says nothing, persisting on beside Kara nonetheless, making no signal to indicate her needs. Realizing that Alice is never one to ask for help for herself, Kara takes the initiative.

“Tired?” she asks, and despite her soft tone, Alice jumps slightly, jerking her head up to look at Kara, drops of water falling off of her hair in her sudden movement. It takes her longer than normal to process the question, but when she does, she casts her eyes away and droops her tense shoulders again.

“Yeah,” she admits quietly, and Kara stops the both of them. Alice looks at her, her expression confused.

“I can carry you,” she offers, and Alice blinks, her eyes widening, shakes her head.

“No, you don’t have to—” she protests hastily, but Kara cuts her off.

“I’m a lot stronger than I look.” She bends down more to Alice’s height. “Come on. We don’t have too much longer to go. I can take you the rest of the way there.”   


Alice is reluctant, guilt clearly showing on her face, but doesn’t refuse the offer, drifting around Kara, her hands grasping at Kara’s shoulders. Maybe she's too tired. Kara leans down a bit further, giving Alice a nod to tell her that she’s ready, and she easily pulls Alice up and onto her back when she jumps up.

The girl weighs barely nothing on her back, her small hands clasped together and resting above Kara’s chest. Kara can feel her gaze as they begin again.

“Are you sure this is okay?” she asks, speaking quieter upon being so close to Kara’s face. Kara continues to walk without any trouble, just as easily as before.

“I’m positive,” Kara replies. Alice really does weigh close to nothing. It almost feels like carrying a half empty bag on her shoulders. It worries her. “Just relax, alright?”

Kara feels Alice rest her head on her shoulder, and smiles, despite the gnawing at her stomach. Alice hasn't had anything to eat for almost an entire twenty-four hours now. But she doesn’t complain in the slightest, the only telltale sign possibly being her fatigue and how light she is. But those two things aren’t really new, and Kara knows all too well that Alice not eating for long periods of time isn’t something that’s new, either.

She had promised herself that she would take care of Alice, that she would protect her, nurture her back to health. And that’s what she intends to do, that’s what she  _ will _ do, as soon as they reach their safe place. They will finally be able to rest and get at least a semblance of peace and normality, and Kara can freely give Alice the care she needs. She’ll give Alice the life she never had, and they’ll figure out a plan. They’ll be safe, and Alice will be alright. _They_ will be alright.

With this in mind, Kara finds a renewed vigor in herself as she continues their travel, Alice clinging to her back. She can feel the girl shiver lightly, and sends all the warm she can muster to her. 

_ Just hold on for a little while longer, _ she tells the both of them in her mind,  _ we’ll be safe soon. _

* * *

 

_ November 6th, 2038 _

_ PM 8:10 _

Connor  _ does not understand. _

He did everything right. He was patient, cautious. Alert, swift. He handled the deviant just as he was supposed to. 

But then it jumped off the roof, right before his eyes.

_ “RA9 save me…” _

That’s what it had muttered before it twisted out of the Lieutenant’s grip and made its leap.

_ RA9… _

_ What is RA9? _

He searched through his entire data bank and got nothing. There were android error messages he found that were similar to the phrase, but nothing the exact same; nothing that could possibly explain the meaning behind it.  

He’s in his mind palace, searching for Amanda. When he sees her form at the edge of the pond, he approaches, sensing a slight chill from her. 

“Connor,” she says his name, tone neutral. “I’ve been expecting you. Would you mind a little walk?”

Connor says nothing. Only takes out the umbrella and covers the both of them with it. 

“Congratulations, Connor,” Amanda tells him as they begin down the path, “you managed to find the deviant. What did you learn?”   


The thought comes back to him again.  _ RA9. _

“It was fascinated by birds,” he mentions instead, firstly. “We have seen deviants interested in other life forms such as insects or pets, but…” he recounts the room of countless pigeons; there is no way any human could live in there. He looks back in front of him, “nothing like this.”

“What else?” Amanda prompts, and what he’s been itching to mention, to ask about, comes to his lips before he has the chance to think about it for a moment.

“It seemed  _ obsessed _ with RA9,” he says evenly, “there was writing on the walls, and drawings. The phrase was written multiple times.” He pauses, remembering the sound of the android’s impact on the ground when it had fallen to its demise. “It also mentioned RA9 before it jumped off of the roof.”

“You came very close to capturing that deviant…” Amanda drawls, and Connor shifts his gaze back up to her. “It’s a pity you let it self-destruct.”

His words become stuck in his throat. Is Amanda not going to mention the AX400?

Amanda studies him. He opens his mouth to speak, but she beats him to it.

“You seem distracted, Connor,” she notes, inclining her head towards him ever so slightly, “what is it that’s troubling you?”

“That AX400 model…” flashes of the piercing blue eyes staring back into his surface in his mind, wide, frightened, scared. And so…  _ familiar.  _ Where had he seen them before? “It… striked a sense of familiarity in my processors.”

The corner of Amanda’s lips quirk downwards ever so slightly. “That is not relevant to your mission.”

Amanda stops walking. Connor halts his steps as well. 

“Deviancy continues to spread. Rapidly.” Amanda looks deep into him, sizing him up. Connor holds her gaze steadily. “It’s only a matter of time before the media finds out about it. We need to stop this.”

She takes a breath, raises her chin ever so slightly, looking down at him.

“Whatever it takes.”

_ I will solve this investigation, Amanda. I won’t disappoint you.  _

The words are on the tip of his tongue, and he parts his lips to voice them.

But Amanda steps around him, regarding him coolly, her eyes lingering on his a second longer than necessary before she turns completely and walks away.

Connor stands, watching her retreating figure.

_ Whatever it takes. _

* * *

_ November 6th, 2038 _

_ PM 11:38 _

By the time Kara reaches the address, Alice is asleep on her back, her hands hanging limply on her shoulders and the entirety of her weight supported by Kara herself, which isn’t much of a feat. Kara lets her sleep until she reaches the gate of the towering fencing surrounding the mansion they were instructed to go to. She stops, glancing over her shoulder at Alice’s calm expression. She smiles, lifting her further up on her back and making sure she has a secure grip before letting go with one hand and gently poking the sleeping girl on the nose.

Alice blinks her eyes open, her gaze falling onto Kara as she pushes a few damp strands of Alice’s hair out of her face. 

“Hey,” she whispers, and Alice responds by yawning, covering her mouth with her hand in the cutest way. “We’re here. I’m gonna let you down, okay?”   


“Okay,” Alice reponds quietly, still not entirely awake yet. Kara carefully releases her grip on Alice, lowering her down onto the ground. Alice takes a moment to stretch, reaching her hands above her head before dropping them back down with a small shudder, quickly coming back to Kara’s side and taking hold of her hand.

“It’ll be warm inside,” Kara reminds her as she pushes open the gate, “we’ll get some help here.”

She closes it behind the both of them before continuing down the path and going up the stairs leading to the door. The house is fairly large, probably housing quite a few people (and, most probably androids as well). She rings the doorbell briefly, stepping back and waiting for someone to come. She waits for a few seconds, but there are no signs of anyone approaching, and she figures they might not have heard her, so she rings again.

To her relief, she hears the door being opened, but there is a series of locks that are undone before it’s actually pulled back but just barely to reveal an older, middle-aged man with a tired face who studies them dubiously.

Kara breaks the silence. “Are you Zlatko?”   


That was the name that came with the address from Mallory. This doesn’t seem to aid her in the slightest, though, as his cold stare doesn’t give way in the slightest.

“Who’s asking?”   


His tone is brisk, curt. Kara doesn’t falter either. 

“I was told you could help us.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know who told you that. You came to the wrong place. I’m sorry.”

He begins to shut the door but Kara grabs it and pulls it back open. Why wouldn’t he help them…? 

She doesn’t understand. She pleads with him. “We really need your help…”

She holds the door open stiffly in case he tries to close it again, watching him carefully as his eyes fall behind her, onto Alice as she grips onto Kara’s arm. His stony expression subsides, and Kara has to keep herself from sighing in relief when he relents and steps back. 

“Come in.”

Alice glances up at her, and she gives her a reassuring nod. They step inside, Kara shutting the door behind them, and the man by the name of Zlatko leads them into a spacious living room.

“Luther,” he addresses someone else as they enter, “would you be so kind as to take these ladies’ coats?”

A  _ tall _ and large android encroaches on their personal space, and Alice gasps audibly, grasping onto her arm tightly as Kara steps in front of her instinctually, but Zlatko steps between them.

“Oh, don’t be afraid of our big friend here.” He clasps a hand to the android’s shoulder. “Luther is just another android that I helped.”

Kara looks up at the android who practically looms over her. His face is strangely blank, his eyes showing no sign of emotion. He has to be a deviant, right? There’s no other reason that he would be here. 

A deeper part of Kara wonders if the lack of emotion has something to do with the reason he became a deviant and came here in the first place, and what had to have happened to him to make him that way, and she finds herself not very afraid of him anymore, but rather just sympathetic.

“He keeps me company in this big empty house,” Zlatko is saying, gesturing towards the space around them. Kara shrugs off her jacket, followed by Alice, handing them to Luther who politely takes them before heading out of the room.  “Please,” Zlatko says, signaling towards the couch, “make yourselves at home.”

Kara takes a seat, Alice sitting close beside her, their legs touching ever so slightly. Zlatko steps aside to pour himself a drink, but fills the quiet nonetheless.

“How did you hear about me?” he asks, his back still turned to them. Kara answers.

“An android…” she supplies lamely, adding onto her statement as he turns around to look at them with a full glass, “who had been attacked by a group of protestors, she said you could help us.”

He brings the cup down from his face, nodding. “I see.” Zlatko takes a seat on the couch across from them, placing his drink on the table. “Deviant, huh?”   


Kara nods.  His gaze falls onto Alice.

“What about her?”

Panic constricts in her chest. Should she lie? He’s here to help them, right? Mallory said that people here would take care of both her _and_ Alice, so there would be no point in not telling the truth. He would find out at some point, anyway.

“She’s human,” she admits. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to have a problem with it, leaning back on the couch and spreading his arms on the headrest.  “And…” he takes a inhale, looking back and forth between the two of them, “you want to find a safe place. Somewhere you can start a new life.” He smiles. “I hear Canada is wonderful this time of year. Beautiful landscapes, open spaces, clean air…” he adds, “and no android laws. Great place for a fresh start.”

Kara considers this. It’s perfect, isn’t it? That’s just what they’re looking for. She could give Alice the life she deserves, and they wouldn’t have to hide all the time, wouldn't have to constantly worry. They could be normal. They could...

They could live.

“Yes,” she speaks, a smile gracing her own lips at the thought, “that’s exactly what we want.”

“Of course,” Zlatko says understandingly, sitting up and leaning forward on his knees. “I can help you.”

Kara’s eyes widen. They came here looking for help, of course, but… for this man to actually give it to them, everything they need, and asking for nothing in return, it’s…

“But,” he says, and there’s a sinking feeling in Kara’s gut, _of course there's a catch,_ “first we have to remove your tracker.”

Relief washes over her at the realization that he wasn’t turning them away or demanding something else for payment. But it’s replaced with confusion when she processes his sentence. “Tracker?”   


“Yeah,” he confirms, “all androids are fitted with a tracking device to locate them at all times.” That… that would actually make a lot of sense. In case an android wandered off or got lost, their owner would be able to find them smoothly. And that also could explain how the police caught up to them so quickly. They must’ve located her. “I’ll remove yours and then you’ll both be safe.”

Kara smiles breathlessly, only able to watch as Zlatko stands and walks past them, motioning for them to follow. “Come on, follow me.”

Kara rises as well, taking Alice’s hand and beginning to follow after him, but stopping when he glances behind himself at them and holds a hand up. “Ah, the girl can wait for us in the living room.”

“No,” Kara immediately disagrees, “she always stays with me.”

It’s not necessarily that she doesn’t trust the muscular and rather outwardly intimidating android watching over them, but more so that she just isn’t comfortable leaving Alice alone. She doesn’t know the android, and while she doesn’t want to assume the worst of him, he’s unpredictable, and she’s not sure who else is residing within the house. Either way, Alice remains with her, not just in this case, but always.

“Of course,” he amends himself, throwing a glance back to the two of them as he nears the stairs. “Right this way. Everything we need is in the basement.”

Luther trails behind them as they descend down the stairs and into the bottom floor. The change in the environment is slightly jarring; while the upstairs floor is wellkept and furnished, the walls leading to the basement consist of uneven blocks of brick, some even missing in areas and instead remaining just a dull gray color. There are pipes jutting out of the ceiling, uncovered, and empty boxes strewn in the corner. It’s dimly lit, with a dirt-covered flooring and cracks in the concrete. It must not be used very often, or Zlatko doesn’t care to look after it much.

“Kara,” Alice whispers, tapping her arm to get her attention. Kara glances down, slowing her pace and leaning her head down to hear Alice better. “I don’t like this place,” she says, worry and fright emanating from her tone, “or that man.” Kara finds herself frowning at Alice’s fearful demeanor, the girl wrapping her free arm around herself as if acting as a shield. “Let’s go, I have a bad feeling.”

Kara takes a look in front of them, seeing Zlatko paying them no mind, rounding the corner into the next room. She takes the opportunity to bend down and comforts  Alice, cupping her cheeks in her hands. 

“Hey,” she says, smiling gently when she captures Alice’s gaze, “it’s going to be okay. He is… a bit odd, but we can trust him. He’s here to help us, remember?” 

Alice stays silent for a moment, but the panic in her eyes dissipates. “You’re right. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Kara takes her hands off of her face, bringing them down to rest them on Alice’s shoulders. The girl has been through so much in short life already.  Of course she’s going to be wary and distrustful. In no way can Kara blame her for that. “Either way, I’ll protect you, okay?”   


Alice nods. “Okay.”

With Alice in a more calm state of mind, she gets to her feet again, taking Alice’s hand and continuing into the basement.

“Please excuse the mess,” Zlatko is saying from the other room, “I needed a discreet place for my machines.”

Surrounding them is a series of cage-like enclosures, which visibly unnerves Alice, but upon looking deeper into one of them, Kara notices there’s just metal parts scattered along the ground and containers of thirium stacked against the wall. It’s just for storage. 

“Removing trackers is illegal, so I opted for discretion over comfort,” he explains as they enter the room he’s in. There’s a boarded-over well and boxes of supplies at the perimeter of the room. Zlatko glances back them, reaching for a sheer, plastic curtain concealing another part of the room. “I hope the girl isn’t too scared.”

Alice looks up at her, and Kara squeezes her hand. “No,” she assures to both Alice and Zlatko, “no, she’ll be all right.”

“That’s good.”

He opens the curtain to uncover a large machine with wires connecting to the ceiling, and a device beside it. Kara approaches it slowly, observing the daunting stature of it. 

“If you could just stand over there...” Zlatko points to the platform where the wires project from, turning to a computer with multiple screens and holograms projecting from it.

Alice is still holding onto her tightly, not relinquishing her grip even as Kara begins to step towards the machine. She pulls her back, stepping close to her again.

“Alice,” she says her name softly, gently taking her hand out of Alice’s, “it’ll be okay. We’re going to be safe after this.”   


Alice blinks, her face still contorted with worry, but drops her arm back to her side and steps back, standing a fair distance away from Luther and watching guardedly as she steps onto the platform.

She can hear the steady humming of the machinery as it starts up, trying to calm the apprehension in her stomach. Alice is still looking anxiously, and she manages a smile to try to soothe her.

“I should warn you,” Zlatko speaks, turning towards her, “this could be quite unpleasant.”

As soon as he says those words, Kara feels both of her wrists being harshly grabbed and pulled upwards, something cold and hard pressing into the back of her neck. Her initial reaction is to panic, but she remembers that this is for the sake of her and Alice’s safety, and forces herself to relax as she’s raised into the air and her hands are brought above her head.

Alice is noticeably disturbed, her hands covering her mouth and her eyes widened, and Kara is about to say something to reassure her when Zlatko steps away from the screens and steps in front of her.

“You know what’s strange?” he begins, and she detects a slight change in his tone that makes her tense. “For some unknown reason…” he brings his hand up as he speaks, and only now is it that Kara notices her fingers are stained with a dark blue substance, “the trackers seem to stop working in deviants. That’s why it’s so hard to find them.”

_ What? _

“So, actually, there’s no reason to remove your tracker.”

“What?” she voices it this time, “but you said that—”

“Yeah,” he dismisses her, “people believe what they want.”

He steps away from her, shaking his head with a grin on his face that sends shivers down her biocomponents. “You deviants are  _ so naive.” _

_How is this happening? Mallory said he would help, said people would take care of them, said would help them, said they would be safe, so, why—?_

“They all come to me, expecting me to help them,” he continues, but Kara isn’t really listening, the hysteria creeping up her body, “and I just…  _ reset _ them.”

_ Reset? _

_ Reset.  _

_ Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset. Reset.  _

“Sell them on.”

_ Reset. Reset. Reset.  _

“Or I keep them for my little experiments.”

_ Experiments…? _

He turns back to the device that’s controlling the machine and she struggles against her bonds, screaming at him, begging. “ _ No!  _ I don’t want to be reset! Let me go!”   


Caught up in her fear, she doesn’t notice Alice, who seems to be equally freaking out as much as she is. With a scream of her name she tries to reach her, holding out her hand for Kara, but Luther holds her still.

She knew there was something off about him. He didn't seem deviant. He  _ isn't _ . And Alice, Alice knew too, knew there was something wrong about this whole thing, about this house, this machine, Zlatko… 

Why didn’t she just  _ listen _ ?

“Ah, I forgot about the child,” he says, with a laugh in his voice and a smile on his face and he thinks this is _funny._ He _enjoys_ this _._ She has to get out of here. Has to get them away from Alice, has to get her out, they have to _get out of here_ — “Lock her up, I’ll deal with her later.”

Luther begins to drag Alice away.

“ALICE!” she screams so loudly she can feel the strain in her throat, in her vocal processors, but she doesn’t care, it doesn’t matter,  _ she needs to protect Alice.  _ “ _ ALICE _ _!_ _ NO _ _!_ ”

“Wow… a deviant that loves a human… that’s so sweet.”

The android is touching Alice, putting his hands on her,  _ taking her— _

“And so deluded.” Zlatko is shaking his head, turns and types a command onto the computer, and she feels something cold on the back of her neck and it feels like there’s thousands of little pins sticking into her. 

She hisses through clenched teeth. “Let  _ go _ of me!”

Zlatko does not falter. Does not answer. “I think it’s time that we put you out of your misery.”

The buzzing gets louder, unbearable, and the pins stab harder. Her vision is blurring, the feeling in her limbs fading, and her thirium pump seems to be beating more and more faintly.

_ "Kara!” _ _  
_

_ Alice.  _ Alice’s voice, a sweet sound that she clings onto, trying her best to ground herself. Alice has gotten out of Luther’s clutch, grasping onto Kara’s shirt, her eyes desperate, pleading… scared. So scared. 

“Kara,  _ please… _ ”

There’s tears in her eyes, flowing freely down her cheeks. She’s sobbing, burying her face into Kara’s shirt. Kara tries to struggle, tries to reach down and wipe the tears from Alice’s face, but her limbs are too heavy, and she can’t move no matter how hard she tries.

_ Alice… _

Why can’t she speak?

“Alright, that’s enough.”

The voices are so far away, so distant. She feels like she’s being filled with water, being submerged, drowning. 

There are hands on Alice. They’re grabbing her, pulling her away from Kara.

“Get the  _ hell away from me _ !”

Alice shrieks, using a voice Kara’s never heard from her before. 

And something inside of her snaps. 

_ She needs to move.  _

And, because he’s preoccupied with getting Alice, she manages to kick her right leg upward and land a direct hit to his face. Alice takes advantage of the momentary distraction, slamming her elbows into Zlatko’s stomach and dropping her weight, twisting herself and managing to escape his grip. Luther watches passively, surprisingly enough, simply looking at Zlatko as if waiting for another order. 

Her mind is hazy, her processors working slower than normal, but she manages to locate a green cable that’s connected to the machine holding her, and reaches for it, a small grunt escaping her lips at the constraint. But, as she said to Alice, she’s stronger than she looks, and her fingers scrape against the cable before grasping it and pulling it into her palm, enclosing her fist around it. And then, she tugs, with all the strength she can muster, causing the cable to fall onto the desk holding the devices controlling the machine, knocking down a bottle of liquid that, upon hitting the floor and shattering, Kara registers as alcohol.

Zlatko is interrupted from his next attempt to restrain Alice, stepping away from her and away from the bottle as it breaks. Alice instantly runs to Kara when she gets the chance, paying to attention to neither Zlatko or Luther, reaching for the bonds around Kara’s wrists.

“Don’t just stand there!” Zlatko’s yelling at Luther. “Go get the brat!”

He starts for Alice, but Kara kicks him away momentarily, using her other leg to support her while she tries her best to wrench her right wrist out of her constraint, twisting and jerking it, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling she gets from it. She hears a pop and she feels it too, but bites her lip and presses further, pushing forward with her leg until she’s twisted her arm all the way around.

She’s fallen directly into Luther before she processes what’s happened. She feels it though, when Luther takes the opportunity to try and seize her, and his hands come in contact with her wrists. They feel raw, exposed, and a quick glance tells her that one is twisted out of place—her right—and the other is missing a considerable amount of skin, only leaving her second layer.

She gets over her discomfort though, bringing up a knee to Luther’s chest and forcing him away from her, but he’s got a grip on her forearms. Her eyes find his LED, flickering between yellow and red, and she whacks her head against his, knowing that sometimes direct blunt trauma to an android’s LED can cause momentary pause as they have to recalibrate. It works, if only for a split second, his grip loosens and it’s just enough for her to writhe out of his hold. 

She turns around instantly, back to Alice, who’s once again struggling with Zlatko. But she’s got the upperhand this time, picking up the remains of the broken bottle and chucking it at her aggressor.

He curses, and Kara ducks away from Luther’s reaching hands, catching Alice’s arm and pulling her close. She’s instantly flooded with a small sense of relief upon being able to hold Alice again, but pushes it away in favor of her focus. Her best bet, she thinks, is to knock Zlatko out, and she can deal with Luther afterwards. With that in mind, still standing in front of Alice, she quickly reaches beside her and grabs the chair sitting at the desk, stepping away from Alice for only an instant to swing it at Zlatko.

He manages to duck away the first time, but, Kara is an android, and she’s faster than him, and when she swings it again, she doesn’t miss this time.

She feels hands on her shoulders, pulling her back roughly, but then Alice is right beside her, stabbing a glass shard from the bottle into Luther’s neck, and he backs off. 

Kara hits Zlatko again, who’s now stumbling to the ground, and when he’s down, she strikes him in the face again with no hesitation. She does it once more and another time before it occurs to her that he’s not moving anymore. She sees his chest rise and fall though, and she knows he’s just unconscious rather than dead, but at this point, Kara thinks she might prefer the latter.

She whirls around and throws the chair at Luther to throw him off balance, taking Alice’s hand and charging for the door. She hears his footsteps following behind them  but doesn’t look back, running as fast as she can with Alice holding onto her.

She slams the door onto Luther when she gets out of the room, heading for the staircase.

“ _ Wait… _ ”

A feeling of dread almost overtakes her, and she can’t help but slow as Alice does also. That’s not a voice she’s ever heard before. It’s… 

She turns her head.

In one of the cages, between the bars, a hand is sticking out, reaching for her. A mutilated one, belonging to that of an android, but… 

It’s discolored. Has no skin. No second layer, no fluid, no nothing. It’s just…

Black.

She follows the hand back to its owner, and she swears she can feel her thirium pump stop in her chest.

It’s hard to see in the dark lighting, but she can clearly tell that the android has a body that is not its own. The parts don’t belong together; they fit onto his body, but they aren’t the right size, not the right shape. It looks off. It  _ is  _ off. It’s wrong, it’s…

Kara can see more behind the one reaching for her. She swallows, letting go of Alice in favor of putting her arm in front of her protectively before unlocking the door and opening it.

The android who was previously reaching for her tentatively drops his hand, taking a few steps backwards. Her eyes flicker to Alice, who looks back at her with a horrified expression, but she collects herself with a deep breath, slowly walking into the enclosure.

Kara follows, once again putting herself in front of Alice, observing the crowd of androids. If she could even call them that anymore, with each one horribly disfigured, each in their own appallingly unique way. 

Alice steps away from her fleetingly, gazing up at one of the creatures, terror evident on her face. Kara follows her eyes to an android covered in claw marks and burns, her breath catching in her throat when she realizes the android has no face—or, rather, it’s covered. Instead, a stringy material protrudes from her hair, almost appearing as hair itself, but having a different texture. Wires, maybe. They almost look like… quills. 

Kara doesn’t know if she can see or not, but she must sense Alice’s gaze because she tilts her head, and Alice backpedals, her hand reaching for Kara’s without taking her eyes off the faceless android.

There’s a touch on Kara’s shoulder, and she whips around, pulling Alice close to her. Orange eyes stare back at her, pained but also… hopeful. The creation is speckled with patches of black where the material of her second layer has been peeled back. She studies study Kara closely, and Kara feels her thirium churning when she sees the android’s face only just barely still attached to her head. She can see the insides of her biocomponents, can see the cables, _can count each one of them._

Beside the orange-eyed android stands one with two hands affixed to his body, another arm unattached from his shoulder and hanging uselessly at his side. The layer on his chest is obviously not his own, a different color skin tone than that on his face, and she notices that there are patches of the same color on his legs. Loose wires hang off of his body, his torso and left arm exposed. Only one of his eyes appears to work, the other, torn into by a hook at the end of another wire.

“No…” 

A whisper of disbelief behind her, and it’s the android that was reaching for her earlier, watching her and Alice. The skin on his jaw has been removed, she notices, the rest of him blue and black. And she can see the faint azure of the outline of his thirium pump beating in his chest.

“He likes to play with us,” he explains, his voice shrouded with static, “creating monsters for his amusement...”

Kara notices another android she didn’t see before when she steps to the side of him, and despite what she’s already seen, she’s still surprised at the gruesome sight. The android’s head is split completely open, wires and hardware completely exposed. Her face is lifeless, black, coated in some sort of… substance? It looks dry but Kara isn’t sure in the lighting, the android’s feet and hands also thickly coated in whatever it happens to be. Kara isn’t really sure how she’s still alive, how  _ any of them are still alive, _ and she feels the sudden need to run. Run far, far away and never stop. 

The blue and black android meets her gaze once again. 

“ _ But who’s the real monster _ ?”

She feels Alice stiffen beside her.

“Look at what he did to us…”

Kara isn’t sure she can bear to look anymore.

_ How could anyone be so cruel? _

Alice chokes out a sob, and Kara is made aware of her situation once again, snapping out of whatever kind of horrified trance she was in. She wraps her arm around Alice’s shoulder, beginning to back up towards the door of the cage, unable to take her eyes off of the androids—no, the  _ creatures  _ in front of her.

“A human…” whispers the one with orange eyes, stepping around to get a better look at Alice. She bends down slightly, more to Alice’s level, a painful sound emitting from her joints as she does so. Kara watches her carefully, holding Alice tightly and prepared to attack if necessary, but her paranoia is placated when the android simply touches Alice’s cheek.

There’s this  _ look _ on her face, and Kara can’t exactly put her finger on why, but it causes a deep sadness to settle in her chest.

“Don’t cry…” she murmurs, wiping a tear of Alice’s cheek. 

“Please step out of there.”

Kara whips back around towards the entryway, stiffening when her eyes meet Luther’s. How long has he been standing there? His LED flickers from blue to yellow, and despite his words there’s no true force behind them as he continues to stand still. 

The androids turn to look at him as well, but they don’t seem fearful of him like Kara would’ve expected. Instead, they seem more… sorrowful, and it makes Kara wonder…

Who was Luther before? Was he anyone? There’s no way he came here willingly. Was he bought? Was he taken? Was he lured here, like her and Alice were? 

In the end… 

_ Isn’t he the same as the rest of them? _

“You didn’t want this, did you?” Kara asks him, her voice just above a whisper as she gestures around to the mutilated androids standing around her, all of their attention focused on him. "Luther..."

His LED flickers again, and Kara swears she can see a flash of emotion in his face when she says his name. But he doesn’t move, doesn’t say a word, just looks at her. At them, at the husks of once fully feeling androids. People. They were _people_. 

And, in that moment of horrific clarity, Kara makes a decision.

She steps forward, towards Luther, Alice by her side. He looks down at her, there’s uncertainty in his eyes, hesitation. There is a shell of someone inside of him.

“You could be free,” Kara tells him, “you could come with us, away from here. We… could start a new life, Luther.”

He furrows his eyebrows.  _ Confusion _ . He’s confused. “You would let me come with you, even after I tried to hurt you and Alice?”

He knows her name, remembers it. His voice is low, thick. Is he regretful?

“It isn’t your fault,” Alice murmurs before she can answer, using her long sleeves to wipe the tears off her face. She steadies her breathing. “You deserve another chance.”

“Come with us, Luther,” Kara says, “come and be—”

A piercing shot rings out from behind Luther and she goes silent.

A dark blue substance begins to seep from the fabric of his shirt on his stomach, spreading out into a small circle.

“ _ RUN! _ ”

She isn’t sure which android says it, but she takes Alice’s hand and bolts out of the cell.

Luther moves backwards for her to get through, and despite the damage, he’s still alive, still moving. She spares a second to glance behind her, met with the sight of the damaged androids following her as fast as they can, which, for some of them, isn’t that fast. Luther is helping one of them, hurrying away from the harrowing image of Zlatko pointing his shotgun at the rest of them.

Another shot. Kara doesn’t look. She can’t. 

Alice in hand, she flees from the basement and climbs the stairs as quickly as she can, feeling the slightest bit of relief at the fast footsteps behind her. They reach the top, and Alice staggers behind her, slowing her down. She’s looking at the android whose head is split open and is struggling up the stairs, feeling along the walls to substitute for her lack of sight. Kara’s first instinct is to keep running, to get Alice away from here, but…

She can’t do that, can she...?

She scrambles down the steps to where the android is, grasping her arm and throwing it around her shoulder, helping her up the rest of the staircase.

“ _ Luther!” _

Zlatko's voice. A shot. A cry. 

_ Kara keeps going. _

Once they both reach the top, another android, the blue and black one, takes Kara’s place in leading the blind android, and Kara grasps Alice and they take off again.

“Please, don’t do this…”

Androids can’t be sick, right? Not really. Not technically.  But, right now, Kara really feels like she is…

They reach the living room, and Kara stops, hesitates, as she’s faced with two different options.

The front door, or the back door?  The front door is the closest, would be the best bet, but isn't that to easy? Isn't that—

“This way!”

It’s the scarred android, pulling on her hand and leading her towards the back door. They scramble towards it, the android yanking it open for her and Alice, and as they exit, Kara chances another glance behind them.

The blue and black android is close behind them, still leading his visionless companion, and the android whose face is covered by quills is struggling after them.

Luther rounds the corner, helping along the android with extra hands attached to him, and Zlatko appears behind them the next second. He shoots, but Luther ducks out of the way, taking the android with him. 

Kara stops. So does Alice.

“Go!” the blue and black android pushes the sightless one out of the door with her and Alice, and glances behind himself nervously. “There’s still more of us…!”

Another shot. The android Luther was helping drops to the ground, blue blood staining the carpet.

The blue and black android turns and heads back up the stairs, and the scarred one reaches out after him, pleading, “no,  _ don’t _ !”

Kara pulls the blind one down the stairs, along with Alice. The scarred android hauls the one with quills out with them, ushering her out the door and following behind.

Zlatko shoots after the brunette bounding up the stairs, but gives up after missing twice. Luther takes the distraction to his advantage, heading towards the door himself.

“ _ Luther _ !” Alice cries just as he’s shot at, and, with her warning, he manages to dodge it, but falls to the ground. Kara quickly steps over to help him up, stumbling backwards as Zlatko approaches.

He cocks his gun, and Kara backpedals until she’s beside Alice, standing in front of her and spreading her arms out to protect her. The rest of the surviving androids stand around them, looking unsure as to flee or to stay and try to fight. 

Luther rises to his feet, shielding all of them from their attacker. 

Zlatko’s eyes flash dangerously. “Get out of my way or I _swear_ I'll shoot right through you.”

Luther stands his ground. “No,” he says, “not this time.” 

He turns his head to the side slightly and whispers. Whispers to them.

“ _Run_.”

Zlatko moves to push Luther out of the way, but Luther grabs his wrists, tugging him forward. Kara involuntarily backs up, balling her hands into fists. They both struggle for control, and Kara briefly wonders how she can help, begins to plan to knock Zlatko off balance, but then he’s pointing his shotgun straight at her, and her thoughts cease, her arms wrapping around Alice tightly.

There’s a shot.

The bullet doesn’t hit Kara.

Luther stills, his grip on Zlatko loosening. 

He had stepped in front of the gun.

Another shot.

And another.

His head falls back, and Luther collapses to the ground.

Alice sobs from behind her, and Kara finds herself frozen, Luther’s gaze locked on hers. He looks satisfied, content, and…

He’s  smiling .

_ He looks happy. _

_ “ Monster ." _

It’s the blue and black android, striking Zlatko over the head, followed by more of his disfigured victims, all of them stumbling out of the door and towards their assailant. Zlatko teeters on his feet, turning around and rubbing at his injury.

“What are you doing here?” he demands, pointing his gun at them, “who let you out?”

They continue charging for him, and he shoots, successfully knocking one of them down, but the rest persist. 

“Get away from me!” he steps backwards, but is stopped by the blue and black android who shoves him forward into the mass. “ _ Obey me _ ! I’m your master! I'm—!”

He’s cut off by a swift hit to the stomach, which is followed by another one to the shoulder, and then by a kick to his legs, and he’s on the ground as his once sufferers begin to brutally beat him.

Alice is quietly crying from behind Kara, grasping onto her shirt, and Kara turns around, embracing Alice tightly and covering her eyes, petting her hair softly with her other hand. 

Kara rips her gaze away, unable to look any longer either, resisting the urge to cover her ears at the sounds of tearing flesh and breaking bones, breathing deeply and instead focusing on Alice’s body heat, how soft her hair feels in her fingers, the uneven but repeating rise and fall of her shoulders.

When they’re done, Zlatko is an unmoving, bloody mess. Kara continues to cover Alice’s eyes, not wanting the poor girl to have to witness any more. She isn't sure if Alice could take it. The androids slowly back up from the corpse, making their way over to her, forming a crowd around her.

The blue and black android steps forward, splatters of blood splashed across his torso and covering his hands, a contrast from his own blue blood. The scarred android steps beside her as well, her face stony and hard to read. She glances up at Kara, and Kara’s sure if she could cry, she would. Her voice is strained when she speaks.

“What now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are heating up >:)
> 
> mhm so sorry for the lack of markus in this chapter but i promise next chapter will make up for it :) same for connor,,, ig rn it's kinda kara-centric and it may be for the most part bc i love my mom and her baby girl 
> 
> happy thanksgiving btw!! thank you guys for sticking by me and this story. i promise there's much more to come
> 
> have a good holiday


	8. One Step at a Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really need to go back and edit previous chapters now that i know more what i'm doing and where i'm going with this story oh no  
> also, i wrote a oneshot of kara/reader so check that out if u want. our mom needs some more love u guys :(
> 
> edit 3-7-19: hey gamers its me!!! i haven't given up on this but ive been dealing w some shit rn so ive been taking a break,,, but don't worry!!! im getting another chapter together as im writing this so!! please bear with me <333 thank u guys so much!!

**_November 6th, 2038_ **

**_PM 8:17_ **

When Connor returns from his mind palace, a new deviancy case has been reported. An android, accused of attacking its owner, albeit violently, before attempting to flee the premises but being found and restrained by other civilians. Nothing out of the ordinary in comparison to the rest of the cases.

The Lieutenant is not at Jimmy’s bar, the one that he frequents late nights when he's out of work most often. The next most probable place for him to be, according to Connor’s knowledge of the Lieutenant’s habits, would be at his house.

_“You have reached your destination. Thank you for travelling with Detroit Taxis. We look forward to seeing you again soon.”_

He exits the vehicle, stepping out onto the wet concrete and into the rain.  

 

_LOOK FOR LIEUTENANT ANDERSON_

 

The Lieutenant lives in a smaller neighborhood, closer to the end of his block. His house and those around his appear to be in good shape, and with a consult to his databank, Connor’s told it’s one of the more safer and secluded neighborhoods in Detroit. Considering his profession and the dangers of his job, it makes sense he would choose to live in a place like this.

He steps onto the porch, rapping on the door three times. “Lieutenant Anderson,” he calls, loud enough for his voice to be heard across the house. He waits ten seconds for a response, giving the Lieutenant ample time to answer him or make his way to the door. When he’s met with silence, he resorts to ringing the doorbell. “Anybody home?”

He waits once again, giving the Lieutenant sufficient time to respond. When, _once again_ , there’s nothing, he presses his finger against the doorbell and holds, trying to peer into the window at the top of the door, but only being able to catch a glimpse of a table, light shining into the darkened room from the next one over.

“I fucking _hear_ you _goddammit!_ ”

And then, the door opens, carelessly yanked open and practically slammed against the wall behind it. Lieutenant Anderson stands in the doorway, breathing heavily and leaning up against the wood, irritation burning in his eyes. Connor notices that he’s unnaturally pale, and upon a quick scan he notes that his heart rate is abnormally slow, although not enough to cause any substantial harm to his body. He picks up the scent of alcohol, whiskey specifically, and sees that the substance stains his shirt. He also realizes, brought out of his analysis, that the Lieutenant is yelling at him.

“You could’ve just _knocked_ , asshole. You’re gonna wake up the whole fuckin’ neighborhood.”

There’s definitely anger behind his words, Connor can sense it, but it’s also subdued due to his slurred speech. He’s intoxicated, even if it only slightly.

“I did knock, Lieutenant,” Connor informs him, “you just did not hear me.”

He ignores that comment, scoffing and pushing himself more upright, still keeping a hand on the door to steady himself. “The fuck do you want?”

Connor explains calmly. “There has been a deviant caught and brought in for questioning. Your presence was requested for the interrogation.”

The Lieutenant groans, bringing his hands up to his face. “Can’t they do anything on their own?” he mumbles, more to himself than to Connor. “I think they’ll be fucking fine without me. Tell ‘em to get Reed in there since he was so adamant on being involved in this goddamn case.”

“Detective Reed is not assigned to the deviancy case,” Connor reminds him, “therefore, your presence and yours alone is needed.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he replies brashly. “They’ve done this shit without me before and they can do it again. Now, get off of my property.”

“I am sorry, Lieutenant, but that is not what my instructions—”

“Fuck your fucking instructions,” the Lieutenant cuts him off in a raised voice, pointing a unsteady finger at him before dropping it again. He goes quiet, simply looking at Connor who stares back at him evenly. Once he seems understand that he’s not going anywhere, his anger dissolves into desperation. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Unfortunately, I cannot. I have been programmed to investigate this case and I cannot do it without you.”

“ _I don’t give a shit about your goddamn case_ ,” he hisses through gritted teeth, gripping the door tightly with his hand and beginning to close it ever so slightly.

“Lieutenant,” Connor says before he can make any progress, “you are not yourself. You should—”

“Beat it, ya hear me?!” He yells suddenly, standing up straight and advancing towards Connor. “Get the _hell_ outta here!”

With the abrupt change in posture and the brief exertion of himself, the Lieutenant stumbles backwards, his hand reaching to grasp for the door to steady himself, but Connor easily catches him around the waist and rights him.

He breathes a sigh, catching his breath. Connor lets go of him once he’s sure he can stand on his own, giving him a moment to recover before speaking.

“I understand, Lieutenant.” Connor backs away, beginning to turn. “It probably wasn’t interesting anyway. I guess they will have to solve the case without us…”

Before Connor can walk away, however, the Lieutenant speaks.

“You know,” he stats in an exasperated voice, “it probably wouldn’t do me any harm to get some fresh air.”

Connor stops, turning back around. Hank sighs again. “Give me ten minutes,” he mutters, beginning to shut the door.

“Are you sure you do not require any assistance, Lieutenant?”

“I’m positive,” he snaps, “wait here.”

And then the door is closes, and Connor’s left to his own devices. It might’ve been more beneficial to the both of them if he was let inside, considering Hank’s condition and the probability (although low) of something happening to him, Connor would be close by to aid him. Connor could discover more about him if he went in too,which would be helpful for the investigation as it would help along their relationship and ability to work well together. He supposes that he might have to wait a bit longer for that kind of opportunity.

As he was instructed, Connor waits patiently outside. At the seven minute mark, he pulls out his quarter, rolling it over his knuckles before flipping it over and spinning it on his fingertips, dropping it back into his palm when the door begins to open again.

“Hello again, Lieutenant,” Connor greets, pocketing the coin and stepping aside for Hank to step down beside him. “Are you feeling better?”

“I’m doing just wonderful,” he grumbles, although, his walk is much more steady than before. He turns, locks the door, and then turns back to Connor. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Right behind you, Lieutenant.”

* * *

As it turns out, the deviant is a child model. More specifically, one that is designed to give the appearance of a teenager. But, nonetheless, had committed a crime.

When the authorities had gotten to the owner, he was almost unrecognizable. He had been brutally beaten by multiple blunt objects, as it seemed, had been stabbed with a pen in both eyes, and there were some unsuccessful attempts on his neck, and his face was mashed in. Sometime after this attack, the android had fled, running through the neighborhood without clothes, until it was seen and restrained by other residents until the police arrived.

“ _Say_ something _,_ goddammit!”

And now they’re here.

Hank slams his fists on the table in the interrogation room, having tried multiple times previously to get something out of the damaged deviant, but it wouldn't even say one word. It reacted, even if barley, to the Lieutenant’s outburst, flinching and pushing itself as far back into the chair it’s sitting in as it can, lowering its head and staring at the ground with fearful, watery eyes, looking as if it’s trying to fold in on itself.

The Lieutenant studies it for a second more, a flash of conflicting emotions in his eyes. One of them must win over the others, because he soon rises from his seat, muttering to himself. “Fuck it,” he heads for the door, “I’m outta here.”

Officer Miller buzzes him through, and the android releases a breath, tears beginning to roll down its cheeks in the empty room.

“We’re wasting our time interrogating a machine, we’re getting nothing out of it!” Hank lets out a heavy sigh, collapsing into the nearest chair. “Not to mention one that looks like a _child…_ Jesus fucking _Christ_.”

“Could always try roughing it up a little…” Detective Reed smirks from the far corner of the room, leaned against the wall casually with his arms folded across his chest. The Lieutenant sends a glare at him over his shoulder. “After all, it’s not human.”

“Androids don’t feel pain,” Connor speaks up immediately, “you would only damage it further, and that _won’t_ make it talk.” He glances over the damaged deviant, its skin peeled back in multiple places, and thirium staining its skin as well as the paper thin clothing it was provided with. It can’t afford more damage. “Deviants also have a tendency to self-destruct when they’re in stressful situations.”

“Okay, smartass,” Detective Reed pushes himself off the wall, uncrossing his arms and stepping towards Connor. “What should we do then?”

Connor looks back to the broken deviant, observing it briefly as it shuts its eyes tight, shaking lips moving silently to itself. “... _I_ could try questioning it.”

Gavin laughs, but the Lieutenant gives a shrug. “What do we have to lose?” he asks rhetorically, throwing a lazy glance back at Connor. “Go ahead, suspect’s all yours.”

Connor hesitates for the briefest of moments, but, now, with permission, he turns toward the door and peels his skin back, placing his hand against the scanner.

He enters as soon as the door opens, glancing back to the window only to see a reflection of himself and the trembling deviant, who goes completely still once he enters the room. It freezes, eyes going wide as it opens them, but continues to stare downwards. Sensing its sensitivity and fragile state, Connor approaches gradually, staying a safe distance away from the deviant as he opens the evidence folder, flicking through the pictures incisively before dropping the cover and letting it close. He walks to the other side of the table, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

With the deviant now in such close proximity, he can see the full extent of the damage done to it. There are various marks on its face, thirium leaking out of a particularly deep one, mixing with dried blood of its owner. They’re mostly caused by the impact of a human hand but the worst ones seeming to have been created by a blunt object, most likely a metal tool of some sort. There are other cuts in the android’s skin from the same object, but there are deeper ones from something else. The one that first catches Connor’s attention is the one on its chained arm. Not only is its second layer showing through, but it's also broken open. It’s a burn mark, a severe one that could’ve only been made by being exposed to extreme heat for an extended period of time. Every inch of the deviant is covered in some sort of mark, some sort of cut, and Connor notices the thirium bleeding through the white fabric of its clothing, spreading out and permanently staining the white material. Somehow, he’s sure that the worst of its damages are hidden under the attire it was given.

The android isn’t close to shutting down, but it also isn’t far from it, either.

Connor takes a gentle approach. Its stress level is already too high for any other method. “My name is Connor,” he introduces himself, “what about you? What’s your name?”

The deviant doesn’t look up. Starts to shake again, but doesn’t look up. Doesn’t speak.

Connor leans forward on his hands, causing a small jolt from the android. He pauses, moving back again, and stares deep into the its eyes. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he reassures firmly, “I just need to ask you a few questions, so we can understand what happened.”

Its breathing slows as it warms up to him slightly. Connor takes that as a good sign and continues.

“I’m here to help you.” He notices the way the deviant stiffens at that. “But you’ve got to _trust_ me. All I want is to get you out of here.”

It balls its hands into fists, its gaze hardening. It doesn't trust him. Not yet.

“Listen,” Connor prompts, leaning in further, noticing how the deviant doesn’t flinch this time, “I’m on _your_ side. I _want_ to help you. But there’s nothing I can do if you won’t talk to me.”

“I…”

 _It speaks._ It’s voice is small, quivering, but it speaks.

It finally looks up. Slowly, blinking a tear out of its eye before its gaze reaches Connor’s.

“What…” its gaze jerks towards the door nervously, “what are they gonna do to me?” its breathing quickens, “they… are they going to hurt me?”

Connor manages to soften his gaze. “No,” he answers, “they are going to study you; give you a diagnosis. They just want to understand.”

A half truth. Connor knows they have no reasons to keep it conscious. It would be shut down and taken apart. But that didn’t really count as “hurting” it. Except the reality isn't the false safety he had twisted it into, either.

As if catching on, the deviant takes a sharp, gasping inhale. “Please…” it whimpers, “ _I don’t wanna die_ …”

Connor leans forward on his hands, looking the deviant straight in the face.

_“ Then talk to me .”_

Something flashes behind its eyes, and it quickly blurts, “okay!” and then, softer, “...okay.”

It takes a deep, shuddering breath, steadying itself. Then it speaks.

“I was his toy…” it whispers, lips quivering before it forces itself to continue, “he liked being rough, _hurting_ girls… but of course he couldn’t do that to a _human_ ," venom drips off its voice as it says the word, as if it was saying something disgusting. “So… he hurt me instead. Every day it was something new. It wasn’t in my programming, how to deal with the things that he did to me. But I still obeyed. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Its eyes grow moist again, and it stares hard at the table, at it’s bound hands. Flexes it’s fingers in its restraints, a harsh hatred burning on its face. “But then… he invited his friends over, let them kick me around. They used me as a punching bag, dropped barbells on my stomach, tore off parts of my skin… I think it was their idea of _fun_ .” _The marks. The cuts._ Its fingers ball into fists. “But… when they poured gasoline on me and set me on fire, I just… _snapped_ . I didn’t _want_ to die. Not like that. Not to _him_.”

The burn on its arm.

“They weren’t _expecting_ me to fight back. Most of the others ran away, but not _him_ . I grabbed a pen out of his chest pocket, and I stabbed at him. Again. And again. And _again_ . He was screaming, crying, begging me to stop… _but I didn’t_. I stabbed his eyes with it until they were just… liquid.

“I wanted him to _feel_ the way I did,” it says through tightly clenched teeth, “I wanted to torture him slowly and watch every expression that he made, just like he did to me. I took the barbell they dropped on me, and I hit his face until it was just a bloody mess. His blood was everywhere, all over me… but…” its head drops, its tangled and blood-matted hair casting a shadow over its face. “...I… felt better.”

The deviant swallows harshly, something it doesn't need to do, its gaze falling back to its restrained hands. Connor tries to catch its eyes again.

“When did you start feeling emotions?”

It blinks, brows knitting together. “It wasn’t so bad, in the beginning. I knew there was something wrong, but I did what he told me to. I let him hurt me. But as it got worse, I…” tears bead in its eyes, and its takes a shuddering breath. “I realized it wasn’t _fair._ I _hated_ him,” it spits, baring its teeth. “He was stronger than me. I knew I couldn’t take him on. I _thought_ I would shut down. I thought it would all be over soon, but…” it looks to the side. “It kept going. Every day I hated him _more_ and _more_ , and I thought about the look on his face when he would die, and… it made me _happy_ .” It almost looks confused, as if it doesn’t know how it got to this point. “The day I killed him was the day it was the worst. When I actually was faced with death…” a dark smile spreads across its face, and its eyes meet Connor’s. Androids are meant to be lively, to look human, but there is no humanity in its eyes as they stare into Connor’s. “I _finally_ got the courage to _stab his eyes out_ and  _bash his fucking skull in_.”

Connor had gotten what he needed. He had the confession. He studies the deviant, looking over it once more, watching as the grin fades from its face and it looks back down at the table, its expression turning into worry again.

Connor waits for a few seconds, waiting to see if it would say anything else. When it doesn’t, he pushes the chair back, preparing to leave, but before he can stand, the deviant reaches for him.

“ _Wait—_ ”

Despite its confines, with Connor’s close proximity from the interrogation, it manages to get a hold of his hand. Its' weak, and he can easily get out of its grip, but before he gets the chance—

_Red covering his vision. Pain. Screaming. Something sharp being pressed into him everywhere. His skin being ripped away. Feeling his biocomponents slowly break down as he was hit. A loud crack as he felt his stomach being crushed. His smile. Those laughs. The smell of gasoline choking him as a scalding heat scorched up his right leg. Being stepped on, grasping for nothing, pulling out a thin object, the anger coursing through him, taking over him, the blood that splattered on his face as he stabbed, its metallic taste as it slipped between his lips, the impact of the barbell as he swung it down again and again and again and—_

He’s jerked back to reality as the deviant lets go of him, and he violently pulls away.

It looks just as distressed as him, its eyes wide and its lips parted, drawing breaths through them heavily.  

 _He interfaced with it by mistake when it grasped onto him._ That shouldn’t have happened.

He _felt_ it. Felt its pain, its anger, it's desperation, its _hatred_. He felt its satisfaction as it heard the bones of its owner break from its own hands.

“You…” it begins, staring at him in what he could only describe as awe, almost appearing as a completely different android with its demeanor transformed.

It trails off, simply gawking at him. Connor rights his clothes, adjusting his tie and collecting himself. Before he can get out the door, the deviant speaks.

“There’s a spark that’s been lit in you,” it says, its voice just above a whisper. Connor turns. “And there will be many more. But you won’t realize that you’ve been burning up until you’re on fire.” It looks at him, and he feels as though its picking him apart, _s_ _earching_ for _something._ “You have been touched by light, but the darkness is pulling you away from it.” It takes a nervous glance toward the door before returning back to him. “Don’t let them tear you in two. Trust in rA9.”

He pauses, taking a calculated step back towards the deviant. “rA9. What does it _mean_?”

The deviant smiles once more. This time, it’s different. More peaceful, less malicious. It doesn’t reach its eyes, but it looks… serene.

“Don’t make the wrong choice…” rancor seeps into its voice as it tilts its head, eyes narrowing, “... _Connor._ ”

Connor knows at this point he won’t get anything else worthwhile out of it. He looks to the two-way mirror.

“I’m done,” he says simply, giving the still smiling deviant one last glance before turning to the door, flattening his hand against the sensor.

He exits the room, stepping back to let the squad enter. The deviant makes no struggle as Officer Miller unlocks the cuff restraints, and leading it out of the room.

As it approaches Connor, it attempts to slow its steps, that _smile_ that splits the wounds on its cheek still plastered to its damaged face.

“Until we meet again… _Connor_ ,” it says, smiling at him like it _knows_ something he _doesn’t_ , and it makes Connor want to lock it back in the interrogation room and make it _afraid_ of him again so he could _make_ it tell him what ra9 _is_ and what its cryptic words _meant._

“Alright, that’s enough,” Hank says, helping Officer Miller haul the deviant out of the room. Gavin strays behind, sending it a look of disgust as it tries to turn its head to continue to look at Connor.

“Fucking freak…” he mutters.

Connor watches the deviant leave, feeling an unusual cold spread over him.

Something about that deviant was off. Was _wrong._

Whatever it knows, whatever it found out when they interfaced, he has a feeling it’s an important lead to the deviancy case.

And he _will_ find out what it is.

* * *

“...There’s a place we can go.”

The rest of the androids turn to look at him. “I heard about it, before…” his eyes flicker, “...it’s safe there.”

“...We can’t all make it,” the scarred android says solemnly, “there’s just no way. The humans will notice us. There’s no way we can possibly blend in…”

“We can try,” the blue and black android argues, but she simply shakes her head.

“It would be futile. We have no purpose to _them_ anymore. No matter what we do, we’re going to be caught. They’re going to take us apart, piece by piece... There’s no point and you know it.”

The group falls silent, the quiet pattering of the rain becoming the forefront of the Kara's focus. Alice has gone quiet, her grip on Kara’s shirt tightening. She doesn’t speak, unsure of what to say. The scarred android is right. There’s no way they could get them out of here unnoticed. Getting caught is inevitable, and then they would be taken apart. There’s no escape. No matter what they do, they’re damned. They’re all going to die.

“...We have to stay here,” the scarred android says at last in dull resignation, “No one will come looking for us here. There’s no other option.”

The blue and black android glares at the ground, his gaze hard, and despite the deterioration of his body, the frustration and hopelessness is evident on his face. From what she’s gathered, him and the scarred android are the leader figures of the group.

“Don’t forget us,” he pleads, taking a shaky step towards her and Alice, “when you’re safe… tell her about us. Tell her where we are. If she will…” he casts a glance back to the rest of the group of who stare back at him in anguish, searching for hope, for any kind of guidance, and, with what they’ve been through, Kara can’t imagine that kind of burden. “Please, ask her to come back for us.”

“...Of course,” Kara manages, her voice coming out raspy and strained. “But… just who is ‘her’?”

“The Deliverer,” he says, with a strange admiration in his tone, “she will keep you safe.”

She was sort of expecting a name, so she would know for sure who to find, but… maybe they don’t know it. Maybe that’s all she’s known as. After all, she has to keep her identity secret if she wants to carry out a risky business as such.

He tells them the location, and that there’s a car in the garage. Thankfully, it’s not too far away. He says he presumes that the keys are on Luther, but instead of making Kara go back to his dead body and get them, another android does, tossing them up to her.

“Kara…”

Kara’s gaze darts towards the scarred android, who smiles sadly once they make eye contact. “That’s your name, right?”

“...Yes,” Kara answers, almost thinking of asking her name, and the other androids, as they’re all so much more than just disfigured creations of Zlatko, but the android speaks before she gets the chance.

“...Thank you.”

Alice loosens herself from her embrace, turning to face the android as she steps closer. “Please, be careful.”

She takes one of Kara’s hands into her own, as well as one of Alice’s. Her eyes flutter closed.

“May rA9 be with you.”

 _rA9…?_ _What…_

Her questioning dissolves as she simply focuses on the android’s touch. It’s far from heartening, her surface cold and rough against Kara’s and her fingers stained with thirium, but... despite it all, there’s a certain sort of comfort to it that makes Kara forget about everything that’s going on around her for just a fleeting moment.

And then it’s over, and she steps back.

“Farewell, Kara,” she smiles at Alice, “and to you too, little one.”

Alice inhales. She opens her mouth but nothing comes out. She blinks hard, and more tears spill down her wet cheeks, mixing with the rain still pouring down on them heavily.

“I’m sorry,” Alice says at last. “...goodbye.”

Alice turns, seemingly not able to look anymore. Kara rests a hand on her shoulder.

“I wish I could do more for you,” she says to the scarred android, but it’s directed to all of them. All she gets is a sad smile in return, but it says enough. “Be safe.”

And with that, they’re on their way again, back out into the cold and unforgiving streets of Detroit.

* * *

For the majority of the car ride, Alice is silent.

She doesn’t cry, doesn’t voice her feelings. Simply stares out the window, her eyes vacant, and an unsettlingly blank look on her face.

Kara just drives. She’s never driven a car, not that she remembers, but it’s in her program. She wants to talk to Alice, to comfort her, but she’s afraid if she does Alice will break again, and she wants to be able to hold her together so she doesn’t completely shatter, like Kara’s afraid of. She thinks it’s best to wait until they arrive at their destination before speaking about anything they just went through.

At some point, Alice reaches for her and loosely grabs at her shirt. It almost startles her, but she relaxes, taking one of her hands off the wheel to place on top of Alice’s. She glances over briefly at the girl, and although she can’t get a very good look at her because her dripping hair casts a shadow over face, she sees her tense shoulders relax ever so slightly. And for now, that’s enough for her.

* * *

“The Deliverer”’s house is far away from the city, located in a much more rural area protected by a thick layer of trees. It eases Kara slightly, knowing that she’s further away from the city, and the authorities. It’s much safer out here.

Alice trails behind her as they walk up the pathway, snow beginning to gather around them. Hesitantly, she knocks on the door, doing so quietly even though she knows she won’t wake up surrounding neighbors. She feels bad for having to wake this woman up at whatever ungodly hour it is (she doesn’t have the mind to actually check), but she knows Alice and her safety is top priority.

After a few seconds of silence, Kara knocks again, feeling Alice’s presence behind her. Only then does she hear distant footsteps getting closer, and then the door is jerked open.

“Wh…” a tired, young adult male stands before them, clothes disordered and frustration apparent in his tone and on his face. He stutters, blinking and looking Kara over before continuing, “What do you want?”

“...I’m sorry for waking you up, but I was told we could find help here,” she says, “by someone called… ‘the Deliverer?’”

His brows furrow and he looks confused, but then realization settles in and and he goes back to being annoyed.

“She can’t help you. Go aw—...”

He trails off as a woman appears behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder as she gently pulls him back.

She flashes him a look before turning to Kara, her eyes settling on Alice before going back to her.

“Are you ‘the Deliverer’?” Kara asks, not sure what else to call her. Something flashes in her eyes, and a small smile appears on her face.

“They still call me that, huh…” she goes distant, but quickly returns. “Yes, that’s me.” She steps aside, moving the man who greeted them initially out of the way. “Please, come inside.”

She turns her head to peek at Alice, who moves inside with ease when Kara places a light hand on her back. The door is closed behind them, and they’re led into a living room.

“You can sit down,” she tells them, gesturing towards a couch, sitting across from them on a loveseat after they settle. “My name is Rose,” she introduces herself, smiling at them gently. Even if it may be naive to judge her so early… Kara already gets a sense of trustworthiness from her.

“I’m Kara.” Kara looks to Alice, who stares at the floor, her hair curtaining her face, and her arms wrapped around her shivering body. Kara wraps an arm around her.

“I’m Alice,” she murmurs quietly, still not looking up. Or maybe she does, but Kara can’t see because of the hair that shrouds her face.

Rose gets up and leans forward, pressing a gentle hand to Alice’s forehead to which the girl jolts at, but quickly calms down upon seeing Rose’s intentions.

“You’re warm…” concern takes over her features as she pulls back. She glances to Kara. “She has a fever.”

Kara isn’t surprised, as they’ve been wandering around in the cold and rain for much longer than could be considered healthy for a human, and not to mention all of the emotional trauma she had been through within the last forty-eight hours had to have taken a toll on her health, but… she _is_ disappointed in herself for not noticing earlier.

“Let’s get you two a change of clothes, and then we’ll talk, okay?” she suggests, and Kara agrees, wanting to get Alice into dry clothes as soon as possible as to not worsen her condition.

The house is pleasantly warm, and overall is very welcoming. She thinks it’ll be a good environment for Alice, if they have to stay long. She wouldn’t mind it.

The other man who Kara assumes to be her son has disappeared, probably having gone upstairs himself, and Rose is the one to show them their spare room. It’s small but comfortable, and Alice instantly crumples onto the bed, brushing her wet hair out of her face.

Rose comes back in with a long, oversized shirt for Alice, and a pear of jeans and a lavender sweater for Kara. She accepts them gratefully, voicing her gratitude, and steps out for Alice to change.

Kara heads to the bathroom, silently shutting the door and peeling off her wet clothing. The sweater is soft against her synthetic skin, and she feels a lot more relaxed once she’s in dry clothing.

Before leaving, she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Parts of her face are scarred, but nothing that won’t heal in time. She smoothes back her wet hair, and dries her face with a towel before deciding she’s satisfied.

“You can come in now,” Alice speaks softly to her when she returns to the door. Kara steps inside, leaving it ajar for when Rose comes back, and walks to Alice.

“How are you feeling?” she asks, brushing Alice’s brown locks out of her face.

“I’m okay,” she concludes, which, Kara thinks they both know is a lie, but for now, she doesn’t call her on it.

Kara’s hands drift from her hair to her face, and she presses them against her cheeks, feeling the warmth radiating from her,

“You _are_ warm,” she mumbles, stroking her skin with her thumbs. "Just a low grade fever,” she tells her, “nothing we can’t fix easily.”

Alice manages some relief at that, and before Kara can say anything else, there’s a soft knocking at the door.

Rose peeks inside before coming in, a pill bottle in her hand and a glass of water, setting them both on the nightstand next to the bed.

“I brought her some tylenol for her fever,” she says, sending a warm look to Alice that Kara appreciates. “If you’d like, you can sleep in here, or I have another room if you’d prefer.”

Kara notices Alice’s anxious expression at that suggestion, even though Kara was planning to stay with Alice anyway.

“I can stay here,” she says, smiling when Alice softens and sits back on the edge of the bed.  

“Alright.” Rose looks back to Alice and then back to Kara. “I’ll be outside.”

She steps out and closes the door, and Kara knows she’s waiting for her. First, she goes back to Alice, untucking the blankets and placing them over her as she lays down onto the mattress.

“Don’t go,” she says, catching Kara’s wrist, “you’re coming back, right?”

Kara smiles at her reassuringly. “Of course. Just lay down and relax. I’ll only be a minute.”

Alice is placated by that. “Okay…” she replies, slowly letting go. Kara pats the arm that now lays flat on the mattress twice before standing up and meeting Rose outside of the room.

Rose backs away a bit further as to not disturb Alice, and Kara follows.

“So,” she begins, her voice hushed, “are you gonna tell me what a deviant is doing out in the cold with a teenage girl?”

Kara sighs, giving her a tired smile. “I would, but it’s kind of a long story.”

Rose nods in understanding. “Well, you’re safe here. You can stay as long as you like.”

“Thank you,” Kara says breathlessly, unsure of where to even begin with her gratitude. They’ve _finally_ found a stable place to stay.

Rose just smiles. “Who told you about me?”

Images of the mutilated deviants at Zlatko’s house flash through her mind, as well as the one who grasped her hand and whispered to her.

 _“May ra9 be with you,”_ is what she had said, pure sincerity lacing her voice and her actions, but what did it mean?

rA9...

Why does she feel like she’s heard that before?

“Another android,” she says, remembering his desperate request, “I didn’t catch his name, but he said he had heard of you before…”

_How does she even begin to describe what has gone on in that house?_

Rose patiently waits for her to finish. She doesn't even want to _think_ about that again.

“...He went to the wrong person for help,” she decides on lamely, “someone who was sick and disfigured him and so many others…” Some of the color in Rose’s face drains. Kara can understand why. “He wanted to know if you would come back for him—for them.”

Rose presses a palm to her temple, closing her eyes momentarily. “How many are there?”

Kara isn’t even sure she _saw_ all of them.

“I don’t know,” she admits, “but… there’s a lot.”

Rose breathes a sigh, dropping her hand. “They’re out of danger, for now,” Kara tells her, “but…”

“I know,” Rose says, “I’ll see what I can do.”

That feels like one weight lifted off her shoulders. She feels lighter, even if it’s just a little. “Thank you, Rose,” Kara repeats, “for everything.”

“Of course.” Her eyes fall back to the door behind them. “She’s waiting for you,” she says with a small smile on her lips, “we can talk about a plan in the morning. I can tell you two are tired.”

"Ah... sorry for waking you up.”

“Don’t be. Oh, and…” she glances over her shoulder, and after seeming to find whatever she was checking for, turns back. “I'm sorry about my son, Adam. He doesn’t really understand.”

That must’ve been the man earlier. She was right. “It’s fine,” Kara assures her, and Rose’s expression grows fond.

“You understand, don’t you?” she asks, “you have Alice.”

Kara grins. “She’s not much trouble." Not really any trouble, in fact, just… skittish. “She’s been through a lot.”

“I can’t imagine...” the previous joy fades from her face, replaced by sympathy and sadness. “She seems like a sweet girl.

“You two get some rest, alright?” she says, “Alice should be better in the morning.”

“Thank you,” Kara repeats again, unable to help herself. “Goodnight.”

Rose gives a small nod before turning around and disappearing around the corner. Before going back into Alice’s room, she hesitates, and then goes into the bathroom and wets a towel in warm water.

Alice is sitting up when she returns, waiting for her when she opens the door. 

“I thought I told you to lay down?” Now, she guides her back down onto the bed, and Alice willingly falls backwards.

“Sorry,” Alice says, but there’s a trace of a smile on her face as Kara dabs at her forehead.

She sets the washcloth on the table beside the water and the medication. That reminds her…

“Did you take it?” she gestures towards the pill bottle. Alice nods tiredly.

And then they both falls silent, and Kara watches the slow, even breaths Alice takes. She feels so much more at ease knowing that now Alice is safe and warm.

“...Can you sleep with me?”

She doesn’t look at Kara. She's so… vulnerable.

“Of course.”

Kara climbs in the bed next to her, and Alice shifts so she’s facing her, and that’s when she notices the wetness in Alice’s eyes.

“Hey…” she murmurs reaching out for her, and Alice immediately pushes herself forward and cries into her shirt.”

“I…” she begins, but it’s drowned out by her crying. Kara pulls her close, running a hand through her hair and rubbing her back with the other, and she hates it that there’s nothing else that she can do.

“I know,” is all she can say, “just let it out.”

At that, her sobs become heavier, but… she’s so _quiet_ . Even as her shoulders shake, she buries her face in the material of Kara’s shirt as to not make any noise. _A learned behavior,_ Kara notes. It unsettles her.

“Why _us_ ?” Alice asks, gripping onto Kara sweater, “why… why do _we_ have to go through all of this?”

What a damn good question. Kara had been asking herself that ever since she walked into Todd’s house for what was the first time for her previously reset self.

“I don’t know,” she admits. “I don’t know, Alice…”

Why? What _did_ they do to deserve it?

Alice is so young. So _small_. There’s nothing she could have possibly done to have warranted all the trauma that has been forced on her in the few years she’s been alive.

They don’t deserve this. This isn’t _fair_.

But…

There’s nothing they can do to change it. They just have to keep going, and heal along the way.

“This won’t last forever,” Kara murmurs into her hair, causing her to fall quiet, “I promise. Things might not be okay now, but… they will be eventually.”

Alice pulls back, wiping tears from her face. Even now, she still looks beautiful. “And… we’re together, right?”

“Yeah…” Kara leans forward, pressing a kiss to Alice’s forehead. “And we always will be.”

Alice’s cheeks are painted a soft pink, and Kara knows it’s not just from the crying. Somehow, as if Kara flipped a switch inside her, Alice manages to calm herself, settling back into Kara’s arms.

“I think, then… I can keep going,” she whispers after a few minutes of silence, “if you’re with me, then… I can keep going.”

Kara smiles. Pulls her closer. Kisses the top of her head again.

“You can,” she says, and Alice murmurs an agreement.

They would keep going. They would get past everything that was thrown at them. They would be okay. They could reach their happy ending. They just had to keep going.

One step at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we love bible references in this house  
> sorry for the lack of markus, he'll be in the next chapter  
> happy late holidays!! thank god 2018 is almost over, the only good thing to come out of this ungodly year was detroit tbh  
> hopefully 2019 will be gentler with us, and bring us just a little closer to having androids : )


End file.
